Just Won't Die 4
by OneShot
Summary: This is a Ranma/Neon Genesis Evangelion crossover. In a totally changed EVA timeline, Ranma reappears possessing the knowledge of Nerv and Seele, enough knowledge that could destroy/expose the both of them to the UN on their secret goals.


Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong

Neon Genesis Evangelion\Ranma 1\2: Just won't die 4

The busy busy city of Tokyo was dead quiet that afternoon. No one roamed the street, fearing what Misato had prophetized, that a monster called an Angel will attack this city in a very short while. As a necessary precaution, the entire city had been evacuated in anticipation of this attack.  
"Today at 12:30, a state of special emergency has been declared within Kanto and Chubu districts, around Tokai district. Please take refuge in the designated shelters. Repeat... Today-" could be heard echoing throughout the quiet city.  
From inside the control room of a secret military base located within a nearby mountain, Gendo looked at the view screen, "We're going to look like fools if these Angels don't attack us like you said," he said.  
Misato stood next to him. She was looking at the screen also, "I know we will. But what can we do? If we don't take this precation thousands could die if this Angel I have been told about attacks,"  
Gendo turned his attention onto Misato for a moment. He wondered exactly who this Ranma guy Misato had told him about so many years ago, wondered how this Ranma guy knew about the world's impending future.  
Gendo's wife, Yui, entered the room. She stood by Gendo's side, watching the screen as it panned over the outskirts of the city. "It would have been nice to have known from which direction this so called Angel was going to appear." She commented.  
A brown haired Ritsuko and her mother was in the room too. Ritsuko was eager to see her Evangelions in action after all the work she had done. Her mother, Naoko, was eager to see her supercomputer, MAGI, at work.  
Maya, a new recruit yet very intelligent addition to the Nerv family, was the computer operator. She said, "We have a strange energy detection three miles east by noth east from here, pattern blue. I think this is the Angel we've been waiting for,"  
Misato didn't really know whether to shout in happiness that there was an Angel attacking like prophetize or to be afraid, wondering what the string of events would soon occur like that young man had told her.  
"Send Unit-00 and Unit-01 to intercept," Gendo said. Within the massive mountain base were three EVA units on standby, all three pilots ready for what they had been training for all these years. Hikari was in her EVA, Unit-00, very nervous. She didn't really want to be an EVA pilot but she was chosen to be one anyway.  
"Hikari, prepare to launch," she heard Misato's voice.  
"I-it's here? The Angel? It showed up like you predicted?"  
Misato replied, "Yes. You and Toji will be going out to stop that Angel,"  
She swallowed the lump in her throat and said, "All right,"  
Inside Unit-01, Toji shouted, "All right! It's about time I put all that training crap I went through to good use. Send me out, Misato-san! I'm gonna bust this Angel wide open," He wanted something to tell his classmates. He wanted to tell that bratty Asuka how well he did so he could wipe that annoying condescending look of her face. "Jeez, what makes her think she could be a better pilot than me, constantly criticizing me like that," he muttered to himself.  
"Hey, Misato-san, how come I can't go up there?" Kensuke's voice entered could be heard as it echoed through the com channels. "I want a piece of the action too,"  
Gendo smirked, "Hm, the two boys seem to be eager about this upcoming battle,"  
Yui leaned forward and said into the microphone, "Because you're needed as backup, Kensuke-chan, in case Toji or Hikari have trouble,"  
"How the hell are we gonna have trouble?" Toji replied, "This damn unit I'm piloting is incredibly powerful. It's like a walking god,"  
"Yes," Ritsuko said, "It exceeds both Hikari and Kensuke's EVAs by extreme amounts, but that's still no reason to get cocky about it,"  
"Yes, ma'am," came the reply.  
Ritsuko chuckled a bit. She turned toward her mother, "You hear that? He called me ma'am. God, I feel old,"  
"You? I'm your mother. Guess how old that should make me feel?"  
Both girls laughed a bit but quickly stopped when they saw the others staring. Maya said, "Everything is within normal parameters. They're ready for launch,"  
Gendo nodded,  
"Launch,"

Both unit's appeared near the outskirts of the city, ready to intercept. There were only several building located throughout the Tokyo that were used as exit point from Nerv. It had taken many many years to build interweaving tunnels below Tokyo for this to be able to happen.  
"Toji, you go in for close combat," came Misato's orders, "Hikari, go to armament building two and get ready to pick it off from a distance in case Toji has any trouble,"  
"Hai," both kids said in unison.  
The Angel progressed its way toward the city, intent of getting to Nerv Headquarters. Unfortunately, it had a city blocking its path. Toji emerged by the outskirts of the city just as the Angel neared the first building.  
Toji ran forward and blocked the Angel's path.  
"That's as far as you go, buddy," he said with a sneer. His entire body was coursing with adrenaline. Although his EVA was incredibly powerful, he still had something to be nervous about. Afterall, his EVA was also very unstable. It had gone beserk once during a testing and proceeded to rip its own armor off for no apparent reason.  
The Angel extended a hand forward quickly and grabbed Unit-01 by one of its arms before Toji had a chance to react. An instant later, he found himself being lifted into the air and slammed down into the ground, hard, on his back. Toji shook the cobwebs from his head. "All right, now it's my turn," he smirked.  
Unit-01 got back onto its feet and reached an arm out and grabbed what looked like the face portion of the Angel. It tightened its grip and lifted the Angel off the ground, slamming it down on the ground several times and then almost effortlessly throwing it a good quarter of a mile right into the mountains that was behind the Angel.  
Toji maneuvered Unit-01 ontop of the Angel where it proceeded to rain down punches on its weird looking face. "Take that and that and that!" Wanting to finish the Angel off once and for all, he made Unit-01 cock its arm way back, sending it forward right into the Angel. The impact of Unit-01's fist hitting into the Angel was so powerful that the mountain the Angel had been lying against collapsed from underneath them.  
"Goddamnit! How the hell did it just do that?" Misato asked, her eyes wide. She never realized Unit-01 could generate so much power behind a single punch. The Angel was still alive. It managed to push Unit-01 off and get back onto its feet.  
"You want more, eh?" Toji said with a smile. He was actually enjoying this. But then again, he knew the Angel was no match for his EVA. Unit-  
01 was just way too powerful. The Angel stood still for a moment Toji just watched, wondering what it was doing, waiting for it to attack. When he realized that the Angel was regenerating the damage it had sustained, he rushed toward it to punch it but had his extended arm grabbed and was propelled through the air, sliding to a halt several hundred meters away from the Angel.  
Toji swore to himself as Unit-01 got back up.  
The Angel proceeded toward the city. From out of nowhere, a massive beam of energy shot forward from nearby, striking the Angel. This massive red barrier appeared in front of it, rippling like water as the energy was absorbed.  
"The Angel has an AT field," Maya said, "Hikari's weapon is useless against it,"  
"Fine, proceed to close combat," Gendo said, "You must stop that Angel before it reaches the city and starts destroying buildings,"  
"All right," Maya said. She relayed the message to Hikari and Toji.  
Unit-01, knowing his sole objective, rushed forward and grabbed the Angel from behind, hoisting it into the air and slamming it back down on the ground. Once on the ground, Unit-01 once again mounted the Angel and proceeded to constantly rain down punches, this time, not pausing once for a second. After a short moment, he pulled out his progressive knife and stabbed it right into the Angel's face.  
It let out this roar of pain as Toji continued to stab the Angel repeatedly.  
After several moments, the Angel, knowing that it has been defeated, reached its arms up and grabbed Unit-01, and then self-destructed.  
The explosion engulfed Unit-01 entirely.  
Everyone stared at the screen, "Toji!" they all shouted.  
When the explosion subsided, Unit-01 stood in the middle of the newly formed crater, totally unscathed.  
"God, Ritsuko, how did you manage to create such a monstrosity..." Misato said softly.

Ritsuko sighed. She wasn't getting through to Misato. The both of them were at a restaurant.  
"After seeing Unit-01 in action today, can you explain it, in more simpler terms, how it seemed to pretty much overpower the Angel in every way shape and form?" Misato asked, a can of beer in her hand. "C'mon, you can tell me. The first EVA unit was only a prototype, only slightly derived from the remains of that...thing my father found in Antarctica. The third EVA is obviously derived from it also, except it's heavily derived from it. Now, with the second unit, what did you derive it from? It's obvious that it isn't derived from the same thing my father found. So what is it?"  
Ritsuko shook her head, "I'm sorry. That information is confidential. I can't tell you."  
"I don't know why it has to be that way. I mean, we've known each other for years," Misato said, a bit annoyed, "It's all a puzzle to me. After seeing Unit-01 fight it reminded me of this man I saw fifteen years ago, when I was a little girl."  
"You mean `Ranma'?"  
Misato nodded. "I don't undestant why you always bring that person up?" Ritsuko's eyes creased a bit, "Why do you keep mentioning this `Ranma' person? Who is he? All I know was what you had told me. That he was some kind of prophet that stopped this thing called the Second Impact, whatever it is, and told you when the first Angel was going to attack."  
"Look, for fifteen years, we have prepared for the Angel's attack," Misato said, taking a sip of her beer first, "Now that it attacked, which was as predicted, it leads me to wonder what we've been all worried about. I mean, with Unit-01, I'm pretty sure we won't have much to worry about. Toji only got knocked off his feet because he never really used his EVA in hand to hand combat before. Which, back to the subject, leads me to ask on exactly why that EVA unit is so goddamn powerful?"  
"I told you already," Ritsuko said, her voice louder than usual, "I can't tell you. It's confidential."  
"You do know that if I probe around, I can find out for myself," Misato said with a wry grin, "I mean, I have my ways."

Ranma opened his eyes, unable to discern his surroundings for several moments. After sitting upright and looking around, he realized his was in a tiny room. At the front of the room, there was a mirror.  
He smirked. This sure looked familiar. Misato, Ritsuko, Yui, Naoko, and Gendo were behind the one way mirror.  
"I'm telling you, that's that `Ranma' fellow I saw fifteen years ago!" Misato said.  
"Yeah, but where did he come from?" Ritsuko asked. "I mean, after that forteenth Angel attack and Unit-01's synch ratio jumped all the way up to four hundred and Toji was supposedly absorbed into the LCL, and when he somehow reappeared, this man came out of the EVA unit along with him. He couldn't have magically reappeared out of nowhere,"  
"Are you sure this is the man that told you about the first Angel's attack?" Naoko asked, standing close to the mirror. "You said you saw him fifteen years ago and that he was somewhere in this twenties. Well, how come he still looks like he's in his twenties?"  
"I don't know if he necessarily is that `Ranma' guy. But I'm positive he looks exactly like him," Misato commented.  
"God, this is all so strange," Yui commented, "We went several months, repelling Angel after Angel with little or no trouble, and then one day, this man appears. And if this is the man is the man Misato said she had seen so long ago, he should be forty nearing fifty"  
Ritsuko made no comment. She continued to stare at the man before her. She had pretty much remained silent the whole time, ever since Misato had said the man was `Ranma'. She was deep in thought the whole time.  
"What is he doing?" Naoko asked.  
Everyone stopped their talking to watch Ranma.  
Ranma stepped out of his bed and immediately realized he had been naked underneathe the covers. Now he was without covers and standing totally naked in the middle of the room.  
"I have to admit. That man sure has a great physique," Misato commented, almost blushing a bit.  
"He sure does," Yui agreed.  
"Yui, what are you staring at? Turn around," Gendo said to his wife.  
Yui turned toward her husband and smirked. "Why? I believe the human body is a beautiful thing,"  
Gendo was silent. Ranma walked back to the bed and picked the bedsheets, wrapping it around his waist. He then turned toward the mirror and said, "I'd appreciate it if you guys give me my clothes back,"  
"You had no clothes to begin with," an unfamiliar voice filtered into the room.  
"All right. Then get me some. I like wearing chinese clothing. A red shirt and black pants to be more precise," he said.  
Yui replied, "That doesn't seem like an unreasonable request,"  
"I don't recognize your voice," Ranma said, "What's your name?"  
"What's yours?"  
"My name is Ranma Saotome,"  
Misato turned toward everyone, "You see, I was sure it was him."  
"That doesn't matter," Gendo said, always the cautious one of the group, "He could have been sent here as a spy to keep tabs on us. How he got into the EVA unit has yet to be determined."  
"My name is Yui Ikari," she said into the microphone, replying to Ranma.  
"Yui Ikari, I recognize that name. You're Gendo's wife. And Shinji's mother," he said. He remembered Shinji had mentioned something about his family and brought up his mother. Yui was shocked by Ranma's comment. She looked at Gendo, who was staring at Ranma curiously. "H-how did you know that?" she asked, this lump in her throat. She had no idea who this man was yet he knew who she and her husband were.  
Ranma was silent for a moment. Because he was hearing Yui's voice, assuming that she was telling the truth, then that must mean he was in some kind of alternate universe. "Oh. I get it. I'm still on this world. I never went back home. That explains it." he said to himself. But then he also realized something. "Asuka! W-where is she? What happened to her?"  
"Asuka? Who's that?" Ritsuko asked.  
"Asuka Langley! Where is she?" he said, his heart beating rapidly. Misato spoke, "Asuka Langley? I know her. Why?"  
"Is she all right?"  
"Yes. She's fine. Why do you ask?"  
Ranma sighed in relief, "Good. That's good to hear." He sat down on the bed, allowing himself to calm back down. He was scared that something bad had happened to Asuka. Afterall, she had been with him when they attacked Adam and destroyed him. "I heard you say alternate world," Gendo's voice filtered into the room through a speaker, "Exactly what alternate world are you talking about?"  
Ranma's eyes narrowed, "Well well well, if it isn't the dick, Gendo..."  
Gendo was taken aback. "W-what?"  
"You heard me," Ranma replied acidly.  
Yui looked at her husband, "What is he talking about? Do you know Ranma?"  
"I have no idea. I'm serious!" Gendo said, putting his hands in front of him "I've never seen this man in my life. I don't know why he dislikes me,"  
"Because you shot Shinji, I should kill you before you get the chance. But you're lucky because I value human life very much and would never take a life in cold blood," Ranma said, walking up to the mirror. Even though it was a one way mirror, he could see through it. He was looking right at Gendo.  
"What? Y-you shot Shinji?" Yui shouted, anger rising.  
"I never shot him! I swear! I have no idea who this man is, let alone what this man is talking abou!" Gendo quickly replied, getting out of his seat and taking a cautious step back. Ranma soon realized something. Waitaminute, he thought. If this is some alternate universe, then Gendo could be a totally different person. I mean, his wife is alive and well. Afterall, Gendo turned cold and heartless because his wife had died. Perhaps he's a different person in this world. Hm, perhaps I should say something to undo the damage.  
Ranma said the first thing that came to his mind.  
"Just kidding,"  
"No, you're the bad guy," Ranma told Gendo, "You shot Shinji, but Shinji shot you back and killed you,"  
"But where did Shinji get the gun?" Misato asked. She and the others were in Gendo's office, all of them seated around his desk. Ranma had even made a comment that the Gendo he knew made people stand.  
"He got it from you after you were shot by Gendo also," he answered her. "I came back to Nerv and found it being attacked by what I was later told as the EVA units five through...hm, I forgot how many. I think it was to thirteen."  
"We produced thirteen EVA units?" Ritsuko asked. Ranma shook his head, "Nope. Some other place built it and Seele, they're the bad guys, they sent them here to kill everyone,"  
Gendo's lips persed. How did Ranma know about the secret organization Seele? Or perhaps he was sent here by them as a spy. Of course, it was still unexplained on exactly how Ranma ended up inside Unit-01 in the first place.  
"I remember fighting this weird guy with these looking odd glasses downstairs in front of that Angel you...I mean they kept downstairs," Ranma continued, spouting everything he knew. "What was his name? Starts with an `L' if I recall correctly. And that Angel was named Lilith."  
Yui gave Gendo a pensive look. Ranma sure knew a lot about Nerv and Seele yet no one knew a single thing about him, except that he was human. When he had appeared unconsious, several tests were taken and he checked out as human, but that was it. There was no information on who he was. Perhaps all his records had been erased.  
"H-how is this world different from the world you're from?" Gendo asked, humoring the man. He knew that man was lying. There was no such things as different worlds and people traveling between them. He was hoping Ranma would slip up somewhere.  
"It's pretty different," he said, thinking for a moment. "I'm trying to recall all of this from memory. I was told the entire story a while back but can't remember all the details. Anyway, Yui, you're dead. So are you, Naoko. Lettme see, Yui disappeared during an EVA sychronization test. Naoko, you commited suicide after you killed Rei,"  
"What? S-she killed our daughter?" Yui gasped.  
Ranma looked at Yui for a moment. "Y-you have a daughter?"  
"Why did she kill Rei?" Gendo asked.  
"Hold up, I'm confused here. You and Yui have a daughter named Rei?" he asked.  
Yui nodded, "Yes, what does that have to do with it? It still doesn't explain why she killed our daughter,"  
Ranma held his hands up, "Ikari-san, what are you getting angry? This all happened in a different world. Like I said before, it's different here. Besides, the Rei that Naoko killed was called Rei Ayanami,"  
"Ayanami? I've never heard of her," Naoko said.  
"Of course not, that's because Gendo made a clone of her shortly after his wife died," he told her. "And I must say, there is quite a only difference was that she had blue hair,"  
Yui turned toward Gendo and glared at him. "Honey, I didn't do those such things!" he said defensively. "Can't you see this man is lying?"  
Ranma smirked a bit, "So you don't believe me, Gendo?  
"Honey, please, calm down," Gendo said to his wife. He then turned toward Ranma and his eyes narrowed, "I don't appreciate how you refer to me as Gendo. I am your elder and should be given the proper respect," He needed to at least get some control over things. He would have to start off first with Ranma. After that, he would have to calm Yui down.  
Ranma smirked, "Are you sure you're older than me?"  
"How old are you?" Misato said, "I'd say around twenty or so,"  
"I have no idea," he said, "I'm probably somewhere around eighty by now. I mean, fifteen years just disappeared for me. I was on Antarctica fifteen years ago, and now, here I am. I was around sixty when I was on Antarctica. So that would make me nearing eighty by now."  
"You're shitting me," Misato said. She wondered whether or not she should be envious of a man capable of looking so young at such and age, or disgusted that she found such an old man incredibly attractive. It was best she made no mention of either one.  
"Nope. I ain't. Anyway, back onto the subject, Gendo," he smirked, "I ain't lying. Everything I'm telling you about is the truth. Lettme ask you a question. How much different is this world from the world I'm describing? In the other world, there was a secret committee called Seele. The leader of the committee had a name that started with an `L' and weird glasses. There was an Angel located under Nerv Headquarters. I was later told that that Angel was held in place on the cross by this weapon called a Spear of Longius. There was this thing called a Human Complement Poject which was supposed to evolve human to a higher lifeform. The Evangelions were derived from Angels and the armor on `em prevented them from growing, not as a form of protection. Those are some of the things I recall having seen or heard. How far off am I? Is this world any similar to the one I was on?"  
Everyone was silent. The tension that filled the room was broken when Ranma's stomach growled. "Is there anything to eat?" He got up to leave.  
"Hold up," Gendo said, "How do you know so much? Who told you?"  
"Who? Lettme see, Misato, Shinji, Ritsuko, Rei, and Asuka, from that world, they all told me," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.  
"You mean we've met before?" Ritsuko asked.  
"I wouldn't necessarily say just that," Ranma said, "But I do know about you from your other self. And, since this world isn't very much different from the other one, I know a good deal about you. For instance, one thing I found out the hard way, when we began living together, was that you collected cat crap...um, wrong choice of words. I meant you collected cat stuff, or anything pertaining to cats,"  
Misato was the first to finally get it. "T-this is all starting to make sense,"  
"Oh?" Gendo said, looking at Misato curiously.  
"I've met you before, Ranma, when I was young," she said.  
Ranma nodded.  
"I remember you saying that you knew me," she continued, "You said you were there to prevent a thing called the Second Impact, and I assume you did because the entire continent didn't melt nor did billions die."  
"Yep," he nodded again, "This is kinda strange to hear. To put it as briefly and simple as possible, I came to a world similar to this except billions had died from the Second Impact. While on that world, I learned all about it. I did all that I could to save it, but all I could manage to do was save several people, Ritsuko, Asuka, Shinji, Rei, and you, Misato. From there, and now knowing of the cause of the Second Impact, I came back and prevented it from happening. Fifteen years later, I just pop up outta nowhere. Exactly why or how I got here, I have no idea,"  
Ritsuko looked toward the ground.  
Ranma noticed this but said nothing. He continued on, "Now, there are some things I am still unsure about. What happened to Asuka?"  
"She's in school right now," Misato said, "I remember Toji mentioning something about a girl by that name,"  
"Misato, dontcha remember that there was a little girl with me?"  
She shook her head. "No," "When you were young, dontcha remember that I wasn't alone? That I had a girl with me? Her name was Asuka. Asuka Langley."  
"The Asuka you saved from the other world?" Naoko asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yes. She was the one that came back here to stop the Second Impact. I came with her. Now, the reason I'm asking this is to find out exactly what happened to her? Where did she go? I'm not talking about the Asuka in school. I'm talking about the other Asuka, the one that was with me. I wanna go back home to my world, but I have no intention of leaving her here."  
"Perhaps she went home without you," Yui noted, "Or then again, perhaps she stayed behind. She would be, what, thirty?"  
"Well, if she's thirty, and she stayed behind. I still have to find her," Ranma said, "I have to see her. If she went home without me, then I could rest easier. I'll find my way back home, no problem,"  
"And how do you suppose that?" Gendo asked wryly, his eye brows raising. Ranma had just talked himself into a corner. "How do you suppose you travel back to your own world?"  
"The same way I got here in the first place," he said patiently, "With the nanban mirror,"  
"Nanban mirror?" Gendo was a bit surpised that Ranma had managed to say anything.  
"Yep, the nanban mirror. I can travel back in time and to other worlds with that mirror. All I hafta do is find it." he said. He stopped for a moment, "It shouldn't be too hard because I found it on the other world so what's so hard about finding it on this world? The only tough part is getting to the place. That's all."  
Ranma's stomach rumbled again. "I'm hungry. I wanna go and eat."  
"We still have more questions," Ritsuko said.  
Ranma got up off his seat, brushed his backside a few times and said with a smirk, "I'm pretty sure you do. But that still doesn't exclude the fact that I'm hungry. I haven't had a meal in...fifteen years," He chuckled. "Besides, I think it's about time I get back to Seele and tell them about how I infiltrated Nerv and everyone believes me. Whoops, I forgot I was supposed to think that, not say it. Oh well, my cover is blown. Can we go eat?"  
Everyone was silent. "God! What's wrong with you people? I'm not a bad guy!" he said, "Look, I'm going to leave now and get some food. I'll be back later,"  
"We can't allow you to leave because you're a breach of security," Ritsuko said professionally.  
"Fine, then come with me if you think I'm gonna make a break for it," Ranma said, exasperated, "Bring several guns. Point them at me. See if I care. I'm hungry and I wanna eat."  
Ranma's stomach growled again.  
"How about this?" he continued. "Hey, Gendo, you've got authority. Order us some pizza. Order a dozen or so for me. I'm serious. I can eat that much. Have it with the works,"  
Gendo sighed. Perhaps he wasn't cut out to be in charge of everything.

"Y'know what?" Ranma said, practically inhaling the slice of pizza "You're not so bad in this world. You're much worse in the other world. Over here, you're not as anal,"  
He and the others were in the mess hall, all of them sitting around a round table. No one else was around.  
Yui snearly spit out the drink she was drinking and almost started laughing. She liked Ranma. Although she knew little about him, she enjoyed his company. Sure, he probably had some secret agenda like everyone else, but his personality was quite refreshing for a change. Everyone here, aside from Toji and herself, was pretty predictable. Even though she dislikes Ranma teasing Gendo at his expense, she realized his teasing was harmless fun.  
Gendo found his blood about to boil. Ever since Ranma's appearance, he's been criticizing him. It was just too bad he had no idea how to deal with someone like Ranma. There was no way he could have Ranma killed because he really could be a spy. It was just that there was no plausible plan to put one over on Ranma to make him work for Gendo. At least not yet.  
Ranma picked up another slice and began to eat that.  
"H-how many slices have you had so far?" Ritsuko had to asked. She had lost could after the tenth one.  
"Dunno, probably are fifteen or so so far," he said, finishing off his slice and picking up yet another one, "Better make that sixteen,"  
Everyone seemed to stare at Ranma.  
"So what? I eat a lot. I need a lot of energy. That's all," he said with a wave of his hand. "I'd say some poor excuse like I'm a growing boy, but I'm a bit too old for that." He looked around for a moment, "Hey, what time is it? I can't tell if it's day or night?"  
"It's going to be four in the afternoon," Misato said, looking at her watch.  
"Hm, doesn't that mean the children will be swinging on by for those synchro tests?" he said, eyes lighting up.  
"Yes, what about it?" Misato asked curiously, eyeing Ranma carefully. Ranma smiled, "All right. I'd like to meet the Asuka, Rei, and Shinji of this time,"  
"No one by those names pilot the EVAs," Naoko said. She had been paying a bit too much attention to Ranma for some reason. Her gaze lingered on him longer than the next person. "I assume you meant Toji, Hikari, and Kensuke,"  
Ranma shook his head, "No. I meant the other three. I've never heard of those three names you just mentioned. Actually, perhaps not. Those names do sound familiar a bit,"  
"They goto the same school as Shinji and Asuka." Yui said, "As to who this Rei girl is, we've never heard of her. Our daughter goes to another school,"  
"The same school...hm." he mummbled, thinking for a moment, "Oh, now I remember those names. I taught at that school once. I remember reading those names before."  
"You taught?" Misato asked.  
"I was just having fun. I actually went in there to talk to Shinji, but I ended up teaching the class all about Ki and how to throw one," he said.  
"Ki?"  
Ranma sighed. He wondered how many times he would have to explain the concept.  
"I'll explain it some other day," he said, getting up off his chair, "I wanna go out and get some fresh air," He proceeded toward the door but was stopped when Naoko placed a hand on his shoulder.  
"Eh?"  
"Would you like some company?" she asked, smiling.  
Ranma thought about it for a moment. "Sure. Why not? Let's go,"  
"You have work, Naoko," Gendo said sternly.  
She shook her head, a determined woman.  
"No I don't. At least not at this moment,"

Naoko and Ranma were standing on what seemed like a helicopter landing pad. They were both looking out toward the city that laid before them.  
"It's kinda annoying that I hafta be watched," Ranma commented, jerking a thumb toward the two guards at the entrance behind him.  
"It's regulations. You're considered a security breach,"  
Ranma looked forward, "Man, Nerv is part of a mountain," he said, "I never knew that. The Nerv from the other world was located in GeoFront, this weird structure located underground. Also, the layout for Nerv is quite different. I assume since there was no rise in the water level, there are more resources, thus, the whole place is larger and more heavily fortified,"  
Naoko said, "What do you think of this, um, world?" She felt a bit bad that this man, albeit cute, was crazy and actually believed what he was saying. He sure was a good liar. She had to give him that. "I dunno. This is the first time outside. I plan on visiting the city shortly after I see the kids," he said, "Hey, can I ask you a question?"  
"Sure,"  
"Um, I don't know if I should even do this, but I'd like to know more about you," he said, "I was wondering if that was all right with you?"  
"That's fine," she said warmly, taking a step closer to him, looking warmly into his eyes. Although she had very little experience with getting closer to someone of the opposite sex, she managed to get her point across without saying it.  
Ranma pointed toward toward something outward toward something. "Hey, look, we're being watched. There's a camera on that tree following" He had recognized the look in her eyes and quickly changed the subject.  
"Once again, regulations," she said. "Anyway, back to what we were talking about before. Um, I'd like to get to know you better also. Do you have someone, um, back home?"  
Ranma sighed inwardly. He didn't want Naoko to get the wrong idea. Unfortuantely, he would have to be more obvious, "Um, Naoko, I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I'd like to get to know you, but not in that way. Besides, there is someone back home waiting for me," He just didn't bother to tell her that Akane was now more like a really good friend to her instead of a fiancee. Over time, Ranma's feeling for her had changed. Even though she hadn't, he had.  
"Oh,"  
"But don't worry, it still doesn't mean we can't be friends, ne?" he smiled.  
Naoko felt like a fool. Of course someone like him would be taken.  
"I guess so,"  
Ranma and Naoko indulged in meaningful conversation. They continued to talk for close to an hour before Ranma finally called it quits. Over that period of time, he was able to determine that Naoko was very caring of her daughter. He wanted to be sure of that because he wanted this to be a gift for the Ritsuko he knew.  
As they continued to chat, Ritsuko appeared.  
"Ranma, is it all right if I speak to you?" she asked. She motioned for the guards to leave but they couldn't so she walked up to Ranma.  
"Sure, what is it?" he asked, turning from Naoko and onto Ritsuko.  
"I'd like to talk to you alone," she said. She remembered Misato ranting and raving about having seen Ranma do amazing feats. "If you're the Ranma Misato told me about, then you should be able to do some, um, rather unique things,"  
He nodded. "Yeah, what about it?"  
"What kind of...unique things?" Naoko asked.  
"You have to get rid of them," Ritsuko whispered. "We can't have them hearing our conversation,"  
Ranma nodded. He turned toward the two guards and walked toward them. "Excuse me? Do any of you have a cigarette for me?"  
One of the guards did. He reached into his pocket and took on a pack and handed it to Ranma.  
Ranma placed the cigarette in his mouth, "How about a lighter?"  
The other guard anticipated it already. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a packet of matches and walked over to Ranma.  
Just as the guard was about to light the cigarette, Ranma looked up, "Oh, wait a minute. I don't smoke,"  
Ritsuko and Naoko were unable to even see as Ranma's hands shot out and touched several pressure points on the guards. Both of them fell to the ground, dead asleep.  
"I'm sorry about that," Ranma said apologetically, "Nothing personal. Okay, now, what was it you wanted tot alk to me about, Ritsuko?"  
Naoko was just staring at Ranma at what he had just done. Ritsuko, although expecting something like that after having heard so much from Misato, was still a bit shocked. She said, "It's about you,"  
"All right, what about me? What's so important?"  
"Ranma, do you know where you came from?" she asked. She had surmised that this was what had happened and wanted to break it to Ranma as easily as possible.  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah. I came from another world if that's what you mean,"  
"No, not that. Do you know how you reappeared?"  
Ranma shook his head, "No. All I remember was that one day, I was in Antarctica, and then the next day, I wake up, fifteen years later, on a bed and being watched through a one way mirror."  
"Do you remember anything in between that time?" she asked patiently.  
"Well, yeah, I remember one thing, but it was most likely a dream. I remember seeing these purple gloves on my hands and armor just like Unit-01 and I tried to take `em off." He said. "Of course, I can't remember much more aside from that. It only lasted for a second. Why?"  
Ritsuko looked down toward the city not too far away. She ignored his question and asked, "You mentioned that you got hurt while in Antarctica, while fighting that Angel of light you keep referring to,"  
Ranma nodded. "Do you remembered what had happened to that Angel? After you defeated it?"  
Ranma shook his head, "I don't know. Actually, I don't remember even fighting him. I assume I did and won because the Second Impact never happened and the real Tokyo is still above water,"  
"God, what have I done?" Ritsuko muttered to herself. She turned a bit paler.  
"What's wrong, Rit-chan?" Naoko asked, concern in her voice. "Are you okay?"  
Ritsuko ignored her mother and said, "Ranma...do you know exactly how you appeared here?"  
"No, why?"  
"Well, I guess I better explain," she said slowly, "Just a short while ago, Toji was absorbed into the LCL that filled the entry plug he was in. Now, after almost a month, he suddenly reappears...along with you,"  
"Y-you mean I came from an EVA?"  
Ritsuko nodded.  
"Okay, so? Nothing wrong with that. So what if I came from an EVA. But then again, how did I get in there in the first place?" he said, more to himself than anyone else.  
"I assume...my other self has explained to you how the EVA were created," she asked.  
Naoko looked at her daughter. Did Ritsuko actually believe what Ranma had said? This man said he was from another world!  
Ranma nodded, "Yes, she told me the EVAs are derived from Lilith, am I right?"  
"Yes, that's true," she continued, "Has she ever told you if there was anything else that the EVAs were derived from?"  
Ranma shook his head, "No. I'm not too sure what you're trying to get at,"  
"Just humor me," Ritsuko said. "Anyway, when the first Angel attacked, was Nerv able to fend it off easily?"  
"I wasn't there when it happened," Ranma said, "I appeared on their world shortly after. But I was told that Unit-01 was almost destroyed and that they had quite a bit of trouble destroying it."  
"Okay," she said, turning back toward Ranma, "Not too long ago, the Angel attacked, like Misato had predicted since she was pretty much relaying a message you had given her fifteen years ago, and we easily stopped the Angel. The thing is, I believe what we knew about the future and the Angel attack, made me do something different in creating an Evangelion as opposed to the other version to myself."  
"Oh?"  
"You see, Unit-01 also fought the first Angel, but it easily overpowered it," Ritsuko said, taking a deep breath, "And do you want to know why? It's due to Unit-01 being derived from something aside from Lilith. It was derived from humans also. To be more specific, it was derived from your blood,"  
"Huh?"  
"Fifteen years ago," Ritsuko said, "The Katsurai Exhibition was stopped from achieving their goals, which I have no idea what it was. Anyway, on the day what you termed `The Second Impact', they saw a huge beam of light shooting into the sky, and they headed for it. When they got there, all that remained was what looked a massive battle that had happed, with splatters of blood skattered about...y-your blood. Your blood was taken and it was studied."  
Naoko's eyes widened. "You mean the `Superstrain'? That blood sample?" She remembered hearing something about it and Ritsuko making a mention of it.  
Ranma looked a bit confused, "'Superstrain'? What's that?"  
"That was what the blood was titled," Ritsuko said, "You see, the blood found there was called that because it had...um, what you would consider the best of the best traits. All we knew was that that blood sample was derived from what we believed to be an extraordiary human being,"  
Ranma smirked, "Cool, I'm the best of the best. I'm extraordinary,"  
Ritsuko took a deep breath and continued, ignoring Ranma's comment, "That blood was used in the creation of Unit-01."  
"I assume that was what made Unit-01 so strong, ne?" he asked.  
"Yes. And you came out of it. When you came out of it, you were given tests." She said.  
"Tests? I hate tests!"  
"It didn't matter. You were unconscious," she said, "Well, all the test did was determine that you were human. But, I didn't really buy that. I was stubborn and checked further into the testings and I found out that your blood is a mix of the blood found on Antactica and Lilith,"  
"So? Of course it's the same. I'm the person that was there fifteen years ago,"  
"Ranma, don't you understand what I'm trying to say?" she said, almost exasperated, "You came from that EVA. You're part EVA! You are a clone of the blood sample we took!"  
Ranma looked at Ritsuko for a moment, "No offense, but you're crazy. That's not true. What makes you think I'm a clone?"  
"All right, explain this then," Ritsuko said logically, "Can you answer these question? What happened to the fifteen years that has elapsed since you were on Antarctica preventing this so called `Second Impact'? And that dream you mentioned, do you remember seeing those purple gloves elsewhere? Or on something else?"  
Ranma shook his head, "No. Why?"  
"Can you describe those puple gloves?"  
"Yeah, they were purple. What else do you need to know? Oh, they had different colored knuckles,"  
Ritsuko grabbed Ranma's hand and pulled him with her, "Come with me. I've got something I want to show you,"  
Before Ranma had a chance to even say anything, he found himself being dragged toward back into Nerv while Naoko just stared after the two of them.  
Ranma looked up at Unit-01.  
"W-what's going on here?" he said. "It's just like that dream I had,"  
Misato was now with him and Ritsuko. They had stopped off and asked Misato to accompany them to the bay. She wanted to ask Misato several question concerning an event that she had been present when it had happened.  
All of this was slowly starting to fall into place as Ritsuko found herself putting all the pieces together.  
"Misato, can you recall that day when Unit-01 went beserk?" Ritsuko asked "Do you remember exactly what Unit-01 did when it did go beserk?"  
Misato nodded, "Yeah. It tried ripping the armor plating off its arms and then off its chest, why?"  
Ritsuko turned toward Ranma, "Ranma, in your dream, do you recall doing that? Do you recall trying to take the armor off your chest?"  
Ranma nodded, slowly, still staring at Unit-01. Unit-01 of this world looked different than the Unit-01 Shinji piloted. The EVA before him looked like it had more armor and two more eyes than he remembered.  
"Ranma, that dream you supposedly had wasn't a dream," Ritsuko said, "You were Unit-01. What we thought of as Unit-01 going beserk, it was you proceeding to take the unfamiliar things off. It was somehow your consciousness breaking through and you proceeding to take your `gloves' and `armor' off. It all adds up. You emerged from Unit-01, Unit-01 was derived from the blood we found in Antarctica, the blood was your blood, you not remembering the fifteen years between when you were in Antarctica and now? You were born from Unit-01..."  
Ranma was silent as he took everything in. He then said, "All right, so what you're saying is that I'm...I'm a clone?"  
Misato, listening all of this, unable to truly understand everything, said, "Ritsuko, what are you talking about? What do you mean he's a clone?"  
Ranma sat down on the floor, his knees feeling weak. It was actually starting to make sense to him. What Ritsuko was saying could be true.  
Ritsuko continued on, "You probably retain the memories from the blood sample. How come you don't remember fighting the Angel if it was obvious that it the Second Impact was prevented? It could be because the blood was from the real you during the battle. You could have gotten hurt during the battle and lost some blood before you defeated the Angel."  
Ranma thought back to when he had been in MegaTokyo. Akane went through that once. She could not recall anything from the day of her death to the day she woke up on that stainless steel table over tirty years later. He turned toward Misato, "T-that beam of light. Misato, did you see it? You were in Antarctica. Can you describe it?"  
"I never saw it," Misato said, recalling that day, "My father described it as `a column of light and energy'. Shortly after that, he saw another flash of light,"  
"Oh man, I remember being told that when I get angry, go beserk in a way, you see that," he said, his voice almost soft, still looking at Unit-01, "A-and that flash of light afterwards...it could be the nanban mirror being used."  
Misato looked at Ranma. She was finally starting to understand what Ritsuko had been saying. "R-Ranma, is this true?"  
Ranma looked at her, "I-it could be. I mean, it actually makes sense and is very plausible. It would definitely explain the memory gaps I have and Unit-01 supposedly going beserk,"  
He took a deep breath. "Man, I'm a clone," he said softly. He was silent for several moments before he said in a very sad voice,  
"If I'm a clone, what happened to the real me?"  
"I don't know," Ritsuko said softly, "Perhaps he went home along with Asuka,"  
Several guards rushed into the room. Ranma's location had finally been determined shortly after those two unconscious guards had been found.  
"God, I need some time to think," he said, ignoring the guards. "I'm going to town. I need some time to myself," He walked toward the entrance where several guards pulled their guns on him. As he walked, staring at the floor.  
One of the guards stepped directly in front of Ranma and said, "Don't move or we'll be forced to shoot."  
Ranma looked up at the guard and said, "Lemme alone,"  
Out of nowhere, Unit-01 moved. Its head turned toward the guards and its eyes blazed, and it roared toward the hapless guards. It raised one of its arms, ripping free from the arm restraints and brought it up and down in between Ranma and the guards.  
"W-w-what the?" Ritsuko studdered, falling down from the sudden shaking as the platform shook from Unit-01's movements. She watched, wide eyed, as Unit-01 simply scopped the hapless guards toward it, the guards falling ino the liquid it was submerged in.  
Ranma turned toward Unit-01 for a moment, "Thanks,"  
And then left the bay.

"Lettme see," he muttered to himself "I was born from an EVA. Okay. I accept that. But what is my signifigance?"  
He walked down the street, continuing to talk to himself.  
"From what Ritsuko said, I am human and part EVA" he continued on, "On the other world, when Ryoga and I went to China to look for the nanban mirror, there had been an Angel that penetrated Nerv Headquarters. What the heck was his name? Kaworu? Was that his name? Well, it doesn't matter anyway. He, too, was part human, just like me. Ritsuko had mentioned that perhaps he was had been born from that Unit-04 that supposedly disappeared. She said that that EVA unit had that S2 thingie in it and didn't need batteries so to say. Well, Unit-01, which I came outta, also doesn't need batteries so that could mean I'm a Kaworu..."  
Ranma looked around, unable to recognize his surroundings. He continued walking in a random direction.  
"Man, that's crazy." He muttered "Will that mean I'm the key to the Third Impact? Wait, the Second Impact never happened. So what the hell am I? Will the Second Impact be the Impact where humanity cease to exist? Damn, let's go over this again. I was born from an EVA. That Kaworu person could be born from an EVA. Why? Because tests on me shows that I am a pure human, just like tests on Kaworu shows that he's human. With me, Ritsuko says I absolutely have to be part EVA because Unit-01 was derived from an Angel and human blood. So that would make me part Angel.  
"Ugh, this is confusing the hell outta me. Perhaps all this junk means nothing. Perhaps I'm just being paranoid. But what if I am? What about those white Units EVAs I saw, units five through thirteen if I remember. They didn't need batteries. Maybe they could be a result of Unit-04's disappearance. Heck, maybe the EVA I came outta is supposed to be like one of those white EVAs. Argh! My head hurts!"  
Ranma, in a fit of rage, shot a ki-blast into the air. He then continued on walking.  
"Commander, the MAGI has just registered a massive power spike near the Tokyo Tower," Maya said, "It could be Ranma. The computer is unable to discern the energy origin so there's a good chance that it could be him,"  
Makoto looked at the screen and commented "That's gotta be wrong. How the hell can someone like Ranma cause such a huge spike of energy to happen? Not unless he got hold of a positron rifle and decided to shoot it in the air which I seriously doubt,"  
Maya turned toward him, "Don't be too sure. Ranma did come out of Unit-01 and we all know how powerful that EVA is."  
"Enough," Gendo said harshly "I don't want anyone speculating on anything. Send out a reconnaisance crew to survey the area."  
"Yes sir,"  
Ranma continued to walk down the street. He looked up at the huge looming tower, "Gee, Tokyo Tower, I haven't seen this thing in decades." He continued walking, still talking to himself "All right. Back to square one. I'm an EVA. No. I'm a human. No. I'm a clone...but of what? I believe I'm Ranma but I'm led to believe I am a clone of him. Okay, so let's say I'm him. If I'm a clone of Ranma, then that means I'm human. So what the hell is Ritsuko so insistent that I'm more than human? Am I part Angel? Am I part EVA? Wait, an EVA and an Angel are the same thing, right? Ugh. My head hurts!"  
Ranma sat down on a nearby bench.  
"God, I wish someone would explain these things to me..." he sighed. He pinched the ridge of his nose as if he was having a migraine. "What the hell have I gotten myself into?"  
He sat there for several moments before he finally got up. "Well, there's nothing much else I could do but go back to Nerv and talk to Gendo or someone about all of this. If any of them know anything about this, which is most likely Gendo, they will slip somehow and I will be able to notice that. Yeah, that's what I'll do. I'll go back to Nerv."  
Ranma got up off the bench and proceeded toward Nerv.  
"Man, this little walk I had seem to clog my head up more than it cleared it..."  
Ranma was heading for Nerv when he spotted someone he recognized He saw Shinji carrying a bag of groceries.  
"Shinji!" he called out to him, running across the street to meet him. He just stared at him, not recognizing him. "It's me, Ranma,"  
"Do I know you?"  
Ranma finally realized that this wasn't the Shinji he knew. This was the Shinji of this world, the fortunate Shinji, the Shinji with a mother and a more caring father. He quickly said, "Nevermind,"  
Shinji eyed the young man carefully, "How do you know my name?" He shifted the heavy bag of groceries in her arms. "I don't think I've ever seen you before," Ranma shook his head, "Um, perhaps not. You were, um, little. You probably don't remember me."  
"I don't remember meeting you before,"  
Ranma said, "Um, your father and mother, I was just spoke to them earlier,"  
"You did? About what? How do you know them?"  
Ranma remembered what the Shinji he knew had told him. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Nothing much. We were just catching up on old times. They and I go back a while. Actually, Gendo and I go back. By the way, how's Rei? How old is she now? Eight? Nine?"  
"She's eight," Shinji said. "Where's Gendo and Yui now? I mean, where's your parents?" Ranma said on purpose, "Sorry, I'm used to calling `em by their first name. I guess I could call `em Ikari-san. Ikari. Strange, I was a bit surpirsed your father took Yui's family name instead of keeping his,"  
I could talk to Yui about all those crazy assumptions I've had, Ranma thought. Perhaps she could clear some things up for me.  
Shinji assumed this Ranma person was somehow a friend of the family. He seemed to know quite a bit about the family. "My parents should be home in a little while. My dad is still at work. He called home to tell me he was going to be staying for a little while longer. He didn't tell me why or what could have come up. And my mom, she went to pick Rei up from her friends house,"  
"Hey, is it all right if I walk ya home?" Ranma asked causally, "I forgot to ask Gendo...um, your father, if he was going to be free...um, tomorrow. Um, so he and I can go flyfishing."  
"M-my dad flyfishes? I never knew that"  
Ranma smirked, "And a whole buncha other things. He also...plays tennis and golfs,"  
"He does that also? I never knew that either. What else does he do?"  
I'm going to burn in hell for lying so much, Ranma thought mischieviously, "Well, c'mon, I'll tell you some more embarrassing things about your dad on the way to you place. Here, lettme hold the groceries. You just lead the way,"

Rei looked up at her mom. She and her mom were standing right outside their apartment door.  
"Hey, mom, what's bugging you?" she asked curiously. She seemed to ask more perceptive than the average eight year old. Yui looked at her daughter and said, "Oh nothing. Nothing at all." She wondered if her husband had finally managed to find Ranma after he had escaped. She would have stayed behind, but she had to pick up Rei from her friend's house at six. Shinji had already gone out when she phoned home so she was stuck picking up Rei while her husband stayed behind at Nerv.  
She wondered how Ranma had managed to incapacitate several armed gaurds and make it out of Nerv without being caught. It wasn't that the security of Nerv was bad, but rather, he was just that good. She just prayed that Ranma was who he said he was. She also wondered where Ranma could have gone or where he would show up.  
Yui opened the door and entered the apartment. She smelled something delicious wafting through the air and went to the kitchen to see what Shinji was making. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Ranma standing in front of the stove cooking something.  
"Well, it's about time you got home," Ranma said casually, "I've been worried sick young lady,"  
"Who's that?" Rei asked.  
"Hello, Rei," Ranma said, walking forward, picking the little girl up in his arms before Yui could do anything, "Do you remember me? I'm a friend of the family." He gave Yui a quick look to tell her to play alone.  
Rei giggled. "Well, I assume not because you were very very small. But look at you now, you've grown so big," he said in surprise. He placed the little girl back down and turned toward Yui. "Go on and run along, I wouldn't want any oil to splash on ya or nothing." When Rei left the room, he turned toward a shocked Yui and said, "Yui, can I talk to you for a moment?"  
Yui swallowed the lump in her throat. It was finally starting to register that Ranma was actually in her home, and that her children were nearby. Anything could happen.  
Ranma walked to the front entrance and opened the door and gestured for her to step outside with him. She did that without saying a word.  
"W-what do you want?" she asked a bit nervously. Ranma gazed at Yui "Gee, I-I forgot. Damn, what the hell did I come here for?"  
"There's a lot of people out looking for you," she said.  
"So? This ain't the first time," he said with a smirk, "I doubt they'll look here of all places."  
"Why are you here?"  
Ranma finally remembered and said, "Oh, now I remember. It's about me. I have a couple of questions to ask you."  
"Like what?"  
Ranma leaned against the wall and said, "It's all very far fetched so bear with me. I mean, I could be just paranoid."  
Yui eyed Ranma for a moment. "I'll bite. What is this you want to tell me?"  
He took a deep breath, "I came outta Unit-01, right? Well, from what suddenly occured to me a short while ago, Unit-01 moved so that must mean it has that S2 thingie..."  
"How did you know?"  
Ranma smirked, "I do now. You just confirmed it. Anyway, did another EVA unit happen to have that S2 thingie?"  
"I can't tell you,"  
"Was it Unit-04?" he asked, "Did it disappear?" He leaned forward and gazed into Yui's eyes. "Tell the truth, I can tell if you're lying or not. I learned how to tell if someone was lying or not simply by seeing the subtle changes in the pupils when someone lies."  
Yui gazed at Ranma for several moments. Calling Ranma's bluff she said, "Unit-04? It never disappeared,"  
Ranma smirked, "You're lying. Okay, now that I know Unit-04 disappeared. That's good. Did Unit-04 have that S2 thinigie in it?"  
"No,"  
Ranma sighed, "Will you quit lying? I can see it in you eyes."  
"Fine, I'll keep them closed, then," she retorted, chin held high.  
"Then I'll grab your breasts because you won't see my hands to smack them out of the way," he smirked. He would never do something like that, but he figured Yui would not want to call his bluff. Or better yet, I'll...I'll hurt your children,"  
A lump formed in Yui's throat. "Y-you wouldn't! Y-you better not!"  
"Please, just tell the truth," he said softly, "If you don't give me problems answering my questions, it would make it a whole lot easier for me and for yourself,"  
"How will it make it any easier on myself?" she asked defiantly.  
Ranma sighed again, "Look, just humor me and tell the truth. In case you're wondering, you might come out of this a little more enlightened. From what I remember on the other world, Nerv is nothing like it's cracked up to be. I know that there was this organization, this committee working behind the shadow under Nerv that almost no one know about, Seele. Ha, I see a reaction! So that means the Seele of this world is working in the darkness behind Nerv."  
"I said nothing,"  
"You don't need to say anything," Ranma smirked "Just by your body language I can tell if you're hiding something. Anyway, do you know what Seele did in the shadows?"  
"Yes,"  
"Does it have anything to do with the Human Complement Project...or whatever it's called?" he asked, watching her intently.  
"No,"  
Ranma was a bit surprised at finding out that she was actually telling the truth.  
"Okay, then what does Seele do?"  
"It funds Nerv," she said.  
"No, the UN does that." Ranma said, remembering everything that had been told to him.  
"They both fund Nerv," Yui said steadfastly. "Actually, Seele funds the Evangelion repairs. The UN funds munitions and damage done to the city due to an Angel attack. What did the Seele that you know do?"  
Ranma said, "Ritsuko, the Ritsuko of my world, told me it was concocting this thing called the Human Complement in which it was trying to cause a Third Impact."  
"And what is the Third Impact?"  
Ranma thought about it for a moment, "I dunno. I think it has something to do with mankind evolving to a higher lifeform or something like that."  
"That's a buncha bull," she said, looking at Ranma like he was a lunatic.  
"Just hear me out," Ranma said, "This could actually hold true in this world. You see, I prevented the Second Impact so it never happened in this world. But...perhaps it did. It's just that it wasn't at a global scale level. It's either that or Seele could be hiding it from the world."  
"You're crazy," Yui commented.  
"God, just listen to me, please," he said, exasperated, "On the other world, almost everyone believes that the Second Impact occured when a meteor struck Antarctica, melting it, when in reality, it was when the first Angel attacked. On this world, it could have been covered up in some way. Perhaps a huge explosion could've happened in Antarctica or something...but no where near as large an explosion that could've happened to have melted the continent. You get me?"  
Yui nodded, "All right. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Let's assume this...then what does Seele have to do with this?"  
"I remember fighting this man that was from Seele. His name was...Lorenz. Yeah, that's his name. Lorenz. Now I remember. This guy had these weird glasses." He continued, "This guy seems to be in charge of the whole organization. I'm positive your husband knows something about him because I saw a reaction from him when I mentioned that guy."  
"I don't seem to understand,"  
Ranma said patiently, "Well, the Ritsuko I know said that the Gendo from her world had some kinda contact with that organization. She doesn't really know what. But, since this world is very similar to the other, it could happen. Anyway, it's just that Seele is not what it really seems. That whole thing has some kinda hidden agenda..."  
"I'll ask my husband about it," she said.  
"You do that, please," Ranma said, "Now, let's assume Seele is...um...evil."  
"That's very far-fetched,"  
"So is the thought of fighting messengers of God, yet you're fighting them, ne?" he asked wryly with a smirk. When Yui said nothing, Ranma continued on, "Let's say that have...dubious intentions. They could be behind that Unit-04's disappearance..."  
"How?"  
"Well, in the other world, Unit-04 disappeared also. It had that S2 thingie." he said, "What I believe was that that unit was stolen. In the other world, I remember Nerv was attacked by several EVA units. Nine if I remember correctly...and none of them needed batteries"  
"They're called power umbilical lines,"  
"Yeah, that. Whatever," Ranma said with a shrug of his shoulder, "Anyway, dontcha find it odd that Nerv was attacked by EVAs that had that S2 thingie? I believe Seele has something to do with it. Do you follow me? There's more to this disappearance. Y'see, on the other world, I was told that the last Angel came in the form of a young boy. I think his name was Kaworu but I don't really remember. It doesn't matter anyway. The thing is, everyone thought he was human...but he was really an Angel."  
"You mean an Angel actually penetrated into Nerv?"  
Ranma nodded, "That's what I've been told. Shinji killed him."  
"M-my son?"  
"Yep. In that world, Shinji, Asuka, and this girl named Rei Ayanami piloted the EVAs," he said, "In this world, it happens to be piloted by three children that just so happen to be in Shinji's school in the other world. Pretty coincidental, ne? Well, anyway, back to the point. That Kaworu kid was thought of to be a human because all tests indicated that he was human,"  
"So?"  
"Think about it," Ranma said slowly, "I was tested, ne? I came out human. But here's the question, I came out of an EVA. That's been already assumed. Unit-01 isn't human. So wouldn't that make me a part of something else also? Unit-01 is supposed to be part Angel. Well, if I came outta it, then I'm part Angel. I could very well be that Kaworu kid. Shinji had told me that that last angel was able to make an EVA move without even being in there. Well, Unit-01 moved for me when I wanted it to. I was just to preoccupied to notice that until shortly after that."  
"I-I've got to sit down," Yui said, leaning against the wall and sliding down to a sitting position. "So what you're trying to say is that you're the last Angel"  
"It's all a hypnosis," he said.  
"You mean hypothesis,"  
"Yeah, that." Ranma said with a weak smile, "Anyway, Unit-01 had that S2 thingie in it. The Unit-04 that disappeared had that S2 thingie. Perhaps in this world, Kaworu is gonna be born from that disappeared Unit-04, just like how I was born from Unit-01."  
"But I thought Unit-04 might play a role in those EVA that had been sent to attack Nerv," Yui interrupted, a bit confused.  
"Yeah, it could've. Perhaps Unit-04 was used as a model for those attacking EVAs shortly after Kaworu was born from it." he replied, "Besides, it's not like you're gonna get rid of Unit-01 after I came outta it, now wouldja? See? Exactly. Just like I expected."  
"God, this is crazy," she said, looking out up toward the sky.  
"It's all an assumption." Ranma said with a smirk, "But it all seems to add up and seems very plausible. Everything fits into place."  
"What are you going to do?" she asked.  
Ranma's stomach grumbled, "I'm gonna go eat,"  
"After that," Yui said, "Hey, didn't you eat a short while ago? Like in twenty or so slices of pizza?"  
Ranma smirked, "Hey, I eat a lot. I have a fast metabolism."  
"Well, what are you going to do?"  
"Well, after I eat, I'm gonna go talk to your husband," Ranma said, "That way, perhaps his reaction to some of my questions could help fill in the gaps,"  
"Like what gaps?"  
He shrugged his shoulders, "Well, like what happened to Adam? If I destroyed him, then why are Angels still attacking? That's been bugging the hell outta me. Also, I'd like to know where Seele is located. I'd like to have a talk to that Lorenz guy. What better way to find out that answers than to talk to the guy in charge of it all,"  
"And how do you suppose you do that?" Yui asked, eyeing Ranma critically.  
Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "It's not that hard. If you're talking about security, I'm not all that worried. I have a few trick up my sleeve." He looked out over the balconey and down toward the street. He spotted several people running by. "Hey look, Nerv operatives,"  
Yui wondered is she should call out for their help. By the time she realized that she could, they were already gone.  
Ranma turned toward Yui, "Oh,Yui, about my threatening to hurt your children. I was lying."  
"Y-you were?" she said. She felt this huge sense of relief wash over her body. Even though she was relieved, she was still a bit cautious about Ranma.  
He nodded, "In case you're wondering, I love children. I'd like to have some one day, but I've still got plenty of years ahead of me, so I'm not worried,"  
At that moment, the door opened and out peek a little brown haired girl. Rei said, "Mom, Ranma, Shinji says the food you were cooking is ready,"  
Ranma snapped his fingers, "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I had been cooking something before I asked to speak to you. Tell him thank you,"  
"All right," she said politely before ducking back into the apartment.  
Ranma smiled warmly, "She's a sweet girl. She reminds me a lot of Rei Ayanami,"  
"Oh?"  
"Well, after you died in the other world," he said, "Gendo was so devestated that he created a young girl that he called Rei, and she looked a lot like you. Actually, she looked exactly like you. The only difference was that she was very quiet and to herself. After she died, she changed and began acting more like a, um, normal girl"  
"Died?" Yui looked at Ranma curiously.  
Ranma nodded, "The Rei that I knew looked like a forteen year old version of yourself but had blue hair instead of brown. She was quiet and usually kept to herself. After she died, she was reborn, but retained the memories that the old Rei and of me and my friend and my...um, I guess concern for her that she started opening up. I was told there had been a Rei before the one I knew. She looks exactly like your daughter but, once again, had blue hair. She died and was reborn as the Rei I first got to know."  
"Um, how did my dau...how did that Rei die?"  
Ranma said, "I dunno. Heck, I dunno how the second Rei really die either? Wait, now I remember, she committed seppukku to save your son. I don't really know must more than that. I'm gonna ask her that when I get back,"  
"S-she died for Shinji?"  
Ranma's stomach grumbled, "Ah, let's eat."  
"Y-you're e-eating here?"  
"Sure why not? I'm not a bad guy, y'know," he said, opening the door for Yui.  
"No, you're actually an Angel," Yui said, entering the apartment, Ranma following behind.  
"Thank you," Ranma said with a smile.  
"Not that kind of angel..."

Ranma sat at the table and was enjoying the meal.  
"Tastes good, Shinji," Ranma commented with a smile, nearly inhaling mouthfuls of food.  
"You're the one who cooked it." Shinji said, "I just continuously stirred it until it was ready. That's all,"  
Ranma turned toward Yui. She seemed to be eyeing him intently, willing him to leave her and her family alone. She didn't seem all that comfortable with his presence. He said, "Don't worry, I'll leave once I'm finished eating. All I'm gonna do is eat and then leave," That seemed to comfort her a bit for he noticed her relaxing somewhat, albeit little.  
"Hey, Rei, Shinji, ya interested in hearing some of my adventures?" he said with a smile, "They're really cool."  
Rei nodded emphatically while Shinji said, "Sure,"  
"Keep in mind ya hafta keep an open-mind here," Ranma began, "I've been to some weird places. Like once, many years ago, I went back in time,"  
"I may be young, but I'm not stupid," Shinji said, his eyes narrowing.  
Ranma sighed, "I said to keep an open mind. There's a lotta stuff that you don't know about. I happen to have found some things that no one really knows about. Anyway, I went back in time on several occasions."  
"Like where?" Rei asked curiously, believing Ranma. Yui seemed to be intent on listening too.  
"Okay, in this world, there was supposed to be a thing called a Second Impact. I came back in time, along with a girl named Asuka-"  
"Asuka? Asuka Langley? The girl from my class?" Shinji asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yep. But not exactly the same one. She's a bit different. She's an EVA pilot,"  
"No way!"  
"Yeah, and a pretty good one at that," he said, "Anyway, she and I came back in time and stopped it from happen." He looked at Rei and smiled, "You should see what we had to go through while on our way to Antractica. That's where the Second Impact took place. Well, we took a boat from Japan to Antarctica. And Asuka drove me nuts on several occasions. I remember once, I was taking a swim, and two sharks attacked me,"  
Rei's eyes widened. Shinji's eyes narrowed. He didn't seem to believe any of this.  
"What happened?" Rei asked.  
"The shark bit me right on my shoulder," he said, "And another bit me on the ankle. Now, Shinji, before you ask me for a look, I happen to real real fast and my scars disappear after a short while,"  
"Yeah," Shinji said sarcastically.  
Ranma smirked, "You don't believe me, do you? I betcha you don't believe in ki-blasts either,"  
"Ki-blasts?"  
"It's this huge amount of energy you can generate," Ranma said, "And it just so happen, ki-blast and penetrate through an Angel's AT field like it wasn't there. If I recall correctly, it takes about all the energy from all of Japan to generate enough power to break one those. Well, since ki is totally different, it can break through an Angel's defense with no trouble,"  
"Y-you're kidding me," Yui said. She didn't believe a word he was saying but for some reason, he made it sound very plausible.  
Ranma shook, "Nope. I swear. I would show you but I'm gonna play it safe and not reveal...my powers," He smiled, "I don't want people poking and prodding me with question as to how I do it. It's just that I just can. It's just the less people that know, the less chance I'll be viewed of as some kinda weapon. Anyway, aside from myself, there's only one other person who could rival, um, my powers and his name is Ryoga."  
"No one else?" Yui asked.  
Ranma scratched his chin, "Hm, there are a few that might give me a run for my money. Herb, Taro, and Saffron come into mind. Hey, now that you brought that up, now I know what I'm gonna do right after I get back home, I'm gonna look those three guys up and see how their training's coming. I'll do this after I ask how Rei really died,"  
Rei's eyes widened, "W-what?"  
Ranma chuckled weakly, "No. It's not you I'm talking about. There was this girl named Rei Ayanami. She died and was cloned."  
"Cloned?" Shinji asked. "P-people can be cloned?"  
Ranma nodded, "What do you think I am? I'm a clone. Pretty weird, ne?"  
"My head hurts," Shinji said.  
Yui gave Ranma a weird look. "All right, I may not be a clone, but the pieces of the puzzle fall together and it all points to me being a clone," he said with a shrug of his shoulders, "Although I don't like the thought, I've already accepted it. It doesn't really bother me because I myself don't feel any different, and that's all that counts,"  
Shinji leaned back in his chair, "This is all made up, ne?"  
"Nope. I'm pretty sure you won't believe me." Ranma replied seriously, "It's kinda hard to get people to believe me nowadays because of what I've seen. All right, he's a question, do you believe in ghosts?"  
Shinji shook his head. Rei shook her head also.  
Ranma was about to say something but figured he might scare Rei. Instead, he said, "All right, how about, say, being cursed?"  
Shinji and Rei both shook her head. Yui continued to watch Ranma intently, not knowing what to think.  
"Well, I used to be cursed." Ranma said slowly, "I am not gonna tell you what the curse is, but some aspects of it was immortality,"  
"W-what?" Yui spouted, "Y-you're i-immortal?"  
Ranma shook his head, "No. But I used to be immortal. Here's a question, how old do I look? Twenty five? Somewhere around there? A part of the curse was, I guess, eternal youth. I got rid of the curse about a decade ago, that's why I look this age. Y'see, I got cursed at a young age and seemed to remain that age. Then, roughly, what, fifty or so years later, I get rid of my curse but I'm changed back to the original age I was cursed,"  
"That's so cool," Shinji said. "I wouldn't mind being immortal,"  
"It has it's quarks, but it's not all that great," Ranma said.  
"Hold up," Yui said. She had been keeping an open mind all this time. "Y-you mean to tell me you used to be cursed with immortality."  
Ranma shook his head and said, "No. I was cursed with something else. Immortality was part of that curse. I'm not gonna tell you the true part of the curse cause it's kinda embarrassing. Anyway, Yui, you remember when your husband mentioned that I should respect my elders? And I said I was actually eighty? Well, in truth, I really am."  
"Y-you're eighty?" Rei said honestly, "You're old,"  
Yui blushed. Ranma chuckled heartily. "Yes. I'm very old. I just happen to look young. I've been through experiences people in their lifetimes may never experience. For instance, time travel, going to other worlds, fighting these robots called boomers, fighting Angels up close and personal, and much much more. I've been through a lot,"  
Shinji turned toward Yui, "Mom, how did you an Ranma meet? How do you know each other?"  
Ranma quickly answered for her, "Actually, you mother and I met recently, um, I know Gendo mostly."  
Yui looked at Ranma, saw him nod slightly. She said, "Um, yes."  
"Like I said earlier, um, Gendo and I go way back. I knew him from over fifteen or so years ago" Ranma said. "The only problem, Gendo don't remember me." Ranma, finished with his meal, got up off his seat, "All right, I better get going now,"  
"No, stay," Rei pleaded "Tell us some more,"  
Ranma smiled warmly and place a gentle hand on Rei's hand, "Nah, I better get going now. Shinji, you probably have homework to do,"  
Shinji was about to protest but when Yui glared at him, he nodded and soon left the room.  
"Rei, go act like a little girl and go and bug your brother," Ranma said with a smirk. He even chuckled when Rei nodded and ran off for Shinji's room. When the children were gone, Ranma proceeded to pick up the dishes.  
"I-I never knew about this with you," Yui said.  
"You never asked," Ranma answered, placing the stack of dishes in the sink, turning on the water. "It doesn't really matter, I'm pretty sure they don't believe me anyway. They just like to be entertained,"  
Yui said nothing. She found the stories Ranma told rather unbelieveable herself.  
"I brushed it aside, that you were, um, eighty," she said softly, proceeding to wash the dishes.  
"No. I'm actually older than eighty," Ranma correctly, "I lost count at around sixty plus years old. My age doesn't really matter all that much to me."  
"Um, you said when you get back to your world..." she said, "Um, where do you live? How do you plan on getting back there?"  
"Not here. I don't even live on this world," he said, proceeding to dry the dishes, "I plan on getting back to my world the same way I got here, through the use of a magical mirror. I know it sounds crazy, but after having been through what I've been through, you tend to develop a very open mind. I'm gonna stay here for a short while, find out exactly what's going on, and then head back home. I don't wanna stay here longer than I'm supposed to."  
Yui was silent.  
"Heck, I'll walk outta this apartment and you will never see me again if I wanted it that way," Ranma said truthfully, turning to face Yui, "But I've always had this thing to stay and help out others even if they don't know they need help. It's in my nature. Besides, I want to know the truth once and for all...about this world. There's so many unanswered questions. Also, getting to know you would be a good enough reason to stay,"  
Yui blushed, "I'm married,"  
Ranma stared at Yui for a short moment and then chuckled, "No. Not like that. You're Shinji's mother. Back on my world, you died when he was three. He kinda took it very hard and wonders who his mother was. But, since the Shinji of this world acts very much like the Shinji that I know, I believe you act a lot like the mother that Shinji lost back on my world."  
Yui was silent. She didn't like the thought of her son suffering through life without having known her.  
"When I get back, I'm gonna tell Shinji that I met you, his mother, and if he wants me to, I'll tell him about you and what kinda person you are," he said softly. "That's what I'm doing right now with Naoko. The Ritsuko of my world, her mother died also."  
"You have a kind heart," Yui commented.  
"Well, the dishes are done, I'm gonna get going now," he said.  
"Where are you going?"  
"To Nerv," came the answer, "I'm gonna ask your husband some questions. Perhaps he could help solve some unanswered questions I have. Once I get my answers, I'm going home and I'll be outta your hair once and for all. I've seen how you've looked at me, wanting me to leave and all,"  
"Um, that was before I got to know you..."  
Ranma chuckled, "Well, I gotta go anyway. I don't belong here. I don't know if I'm doing more harm than good to this world just by being here. I don't wanna end up really messing this world up. Oh, and do me a favor and not call your husband on my coming there. I don't like having to make my way all the way through Nerv and all its security just to ask him questions. I promise you, I'm not gonna hurt him. Heck, in all my years, I have never hurt anyone...at least not intentionally."  
"I don't like the sound of that," Yui commented, her visage growing stern.  
"Don't worry about it. Many years ago, I was mistakened for boomer,"  
"Boomer?"  
"Yeah, a robot," he said, "Anyway, these three girls wearing these specialized suits mistakened me for a boomer and tried to kill me. Me, I thought they were boomers and tried to kill them. It wasn't until I realized they acted way too human before I stopped. They suffered minor cuts and bruises but that's all. The thing is, I don't hurt people. I've only killed one person in my life. He was that Lorenz guy. I killed him because if I hadn't, he would've killed my...friend, Ryoga and Rei and would've caused the Third Impact, which would mean the extinction of mankind. All that when weighed against the death of one man kinda made it an easy decision on what to choose. I'm not a bad guy."  
"I-I believe you," Yui said, and she really found herself beliving so.  
"Well, I better get going. I'll see you later," he said with a polite bow, "It was nice talkin' to ya."  
"Um, yeah, sure. Likewise,"  
Ranma turned around and left the apartment.  
"Could he be a true angel..."

It was probably around eight when Ranma showed up at the badly damaged entrance that Ranma had nearly blown off its hindges during Nerv's feeble attempt to stop him. Having even gone to extremes as to sending out Unit-00 to retrieve him, their efforts at getting him back had been futile for Ranma was already gone by the time it had been launched.  
Ranma entered the headquarters and walked down the corridor toward the control room. He had no real idea but assumed that was the best place to be. After walking around for an hour and a half, Ranma had finally come to terms of himself and him being perhaps a clone and accepted it. It was because Akane was able to deal with the same dilema that kept Ranma from going insane. If she could handle it, so could Ranma.  
He accidentally emerged from the corridor and into the EVA bay. He looked up at the three looming giant EVA units lined up on one side of the room, submerged to their neck in some kind of liquid.  
"Hm, perhaps stumbing here is better than makin' it to the control room," he said to himself, "I wanna see if Unit-01 can really move on its own," He stared at Unit-01 for a moment and said, "Raise your arm up," He was disappointed when it didn't respond. "Hm, perhaps I'm not like that Kaworu kid. I can't make a EVA move like Shinji had said that kid did,"  
Ranma found this odd yearning to talk to Unit-01, as if that EVA unit was somehow connected to him, "Hey, Unit-01, can ya hear me? Do you have ears?"  
Unit-01 made no movement.  
"I have a question to ask you," Ranma continued, "How come you moved last time but didn't move this time? I'm sure it had to do with me because you moved your hand to swat those guards away because they seemed like they were a threat to me,"  
Ranma raised his arm. He was hoping that perhaps Unit-01 would imitate his movements. It did not.  
"Waitaminute," Ranma said, realizing something. He smirked as he stared up at Unit-01 for a short moment.  
All of a sudden, Unit-01 raised its right arm out of under the liquid it was mostly submerged it. An alarm went off since Unit-01 had just broken one of its arms free from its arm restraints.  
"All right!" Ranma said, raising his arm into the air in triumph, "It moves based on my thoughts! That's so cool!"  
He looked up toward the top of the room where he saw a window. "Hm, perhaps that's an observation booth," He said. He turned his attention toward Unit-01 and smiled. Unit-01 turned its hand so the palm would be facing the ceiling. Ranma casually hopped on to the hand. A second later, Unit-01 raised its arm up toward the ceiling, stopping when Ranma found himself standing at the same level as the observation booth.  
He looked in and said, "Hm, no one in there."  
Unit-01 brought Ranma back down onto the walking platform below. When Ranma hopped on its hand, Unit-01 brough its arm back down to its side, submerged in liquid.  
"Well, at least now I know how to use you," he said with a smile, "But, I can't stay. It's gonna get awfully crowded in here in a minute or so,"  
With that said, Ranma left the room, whistling a happy tune.

Ranma entered the control room where he spotted Gendo standing in front of a screen. "Where is everybody?" he asked.  
Gendo was startled and quickly turned around. When he saw that it was Ranma, he were even more shocked.  
"W-what are you doing here?" Gendo asked, a slight hint of panic in his voice.  
"I came to ask some questions," Ranma said. He sat down on one of the chairs. "It concerns Seele,"  
Gendo flinched a bit. Ranma smirked when he saw this.  
Ranma didn't even bother to wait for a reply. He simply sat down in a nearby chair and said, "I'm gonna ask you some questions later but I want you to hear me out first."  
Ranma took a deep breath, thinking of what to say. After a short moment, he said, "Fifteen years ago, the first Angel arrived on Antarctica. And fifteen years ago, a man and a girl infiltrated the Katsuragi Expidition and used the information to find out of the Angel's location and stole one of their units and proceeded to that location. That man was name Ranma. The girl was Asuka. While there, I told a young Misato of the Angel that was going to attack fifteen years later. Fifteen years later, the Angel attacked as predicted. Do you know why?"  
Gendo took a step back. "No,"  
"That's because I've been through all of this once already and remember everything," Ranma said. "This world is only slightly different from the one I experienced, even though the Second Impact had been prevented. But, as of right now, we don't know if the Second Impact had been prevented because it could have been covered up. Seele has come up with a plan called the Human Complement Project...and is attempting to raise mankind to another existence, but, in order to do so, must cause an Impact, perhaps a conrolled one instead. Am I right?"  
Gendo said nothing.  
"Okay, I guess I am right."  
"I-I said nothing," Gendo said, his voice a bit shaky.  
"So? I don't need to hear what you say to know," Ranma said with a smirk, "Anyway, you are somehow connected to this Human Complement Project. How? Your wife is very much alive. In the other world, your wife died and you wanted to implement that Impact so you could be with her. You had told that to Shinji just moments before you shot him,"  
Gendo's skin colored paled a bit. He could not picture himself shoot his son for anything. This other Gendo must be a cold hearted bastard to do something that horrible.  
"But, since your wife is alive, why are you still trying to create a so called Impact?" Ranma asked, "What is the reason behind it?"  
"I don't need to tell you,"  
Ranma sneered, "No you don't. But, I could can turn a whole lotta heads. I definitely know enough information about Seele to expose them. And what then? I can goto the UN and tell `em about the Human Complement Project. I can tell them about Lorenz. And, I can tell them about how Nerv has Lilith located underneath this headquarters,"  
"How do you know about Lilith?"  
Ranma smirked, "I didn't. But now I do. I just assumed Lilith was located under this base and your reaction confirms it."  
"I don't need to speak to you. I've had enough of this," Gendo got up to leave. He hit a button, "Security, we have-"  
Ranma reached a hand out and placed it on Gendo's shoulder, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I don't want no trouble. I'm here to find some information. I'm here to find out about the truth before I go back to my own world,"  
Gendo said, "Security, cancel that last transmission." He turned toward Ranma and said, "You are leaving?"  
"No, not yet," Ranma said, "Something doesn't add up. Why are you working for Seele?"  
"I'm not. I'm working for the UN. I am to spy on them," Gendo said with a sigh. "The UN is aware of a secret organization but knows nothing much about it. I am a spy sent by the UN to infiltrate Seele to find out their true motives. I have reason to believe that the Human Compliment Project is just a smoke screen to hide something of greater importance,"  
"You're lying." Ranma said flatly, his eyes narrowing. "Don't lie to me"  
Gendo was taken aback. He almost believe the words he had said himself. It sounded so plausible. How can Ranma tell that he was lying?  
"I can tell if you're lying," Ranma sneered, "It's written all over your face. Tell me the truth!"  
Gendo looked at Ranma, "Please, don't make me tell you"  
Ranma sighed. "Look, Gendo. I am here only to find out the truth behind everything."  
"Why?"  
"I'm curious," he answered "Ain't that a good enough reason? Also, imagine going through all the trouble of preventing a Second Impact only to find out that almost nothing has changed. I'm pretty sure you would be curious too,"  
Gendo sat down. "Okay, let's make a deal," Ranma said, "I'm positive I know somethings that you don't. How about we trade information? How about this for a little teaser on what I know? The disappearance of Unit-04, do you know what happened to it?"  
Gendo shook his head, "No, but I have reasons to belive I know who's behind its disappearance,"  
"All right, then I guess you know that it's Seele," Ranma said, "Why? Because in a very short while from now, after all the Angels are defeated, Seele will send nine EVA units, each one with that S2 thingie in it. Seele stole Unit-04 and will use it as a model for the EVAs that will soon attack,"  
"This is all an assumption," Gendo said.  
"All right, then who do you believe it was?" Ranma asked patiently.  
"I believe it was Seele also," he answered. "But tell me this, how do you exactly know about this? What makes you think Seele will attack Nerv?"  
"Because it happened on the other world," Ranma said, a bit annoyed, "Dontcha get it. This world is very similar to the other one. The chain events seem to happen in sequence, but is only slightly different from the one I've witnessed. Sure, you have three billion more people more on this world than the other, but why the hell does Nerv have the exact people that I remember from the other world? You have three extra billion people to choose from, damnit, yet still chose the same people. Do you catch my drift?"  
Gendo nodded slightly.  
"I have reason to believe that Seele will send an Angel to infiltrate the base," Ranma continued, "And that Angel came from that disappeared Unit-04,"  
"W-what makes you say something like that?" Gendo said, "The event didn't even happen. It's all an assumption."  
"Hear me out," Ranma said, exasperated, "Unit-01 has that S2 thingie in it and doesn't need batteries anymore, right?"  
"Right, but what does that have to do with-"  
Ranma continued and said, "Now, Unit-04, which recently disappeared, also had the S2 thingie in it. I came from Unit-01 and I just realized that I can make Unit-01 do whatever I want it to. Why? Because I just came from the EVA bay and made move. Didja hear that alarm go off not too long ago? Well, that went off because I made Unit-01 move. Of course, I wasn't there to find out what happened."  
Gendo was silent. He remembered hearing the alarm go off. When he had gotten to the bay, computers gave reading that Unit-01 had moved its arms.  
"Now, this Angel that Seele will send, he also had the ability to make an EVA move on his command," Ranma said, "Now, wouldn't that be a bit coincidental. Could that mean that the Angel came from Unit-04?"  
"Waitaminute," Gendo said, noticing a flaw in Ranma's hypothesis, "If what you say is true, then that must mean you're an Angel. But that isn't true because we've run countless tests on you and you proved to be human,"  
"Yes, just like that Angel," Ranma said, "The Angel will have the name of...Kaworu, I think. Anyway, think of it. On the other world, Kaworu managed to get all the way down to the heart of Nerv. How could he have even made it into Nerv in the first place if tests showed that he was an Angel? Exactly, that's because he was detected as a human, like myself,"  
"So what you're saying is that you're an Angel?"  
"Ritsuko insists on it," Ranma said. "And why shouldn't I believe her? She's the EVA expert. Besides, it all seems to fall into place. And, like you said, you believe Seele was behind Unit-04's disappearance. Well, Seele will also be sending an Angel right into this base not too long from now,"  
Gendo looked down at the ground. This was too much for him to take in. "Your head hurts, ne?" Ranma said with a snicker, "Think of how much mine hurts? I hafta deal with the thought that I'm...whatever...a clone that is part Angel that was born from an EVA."  
That didn't seem to make things any easier on Gendo.  
Ranma cleared his throat and continued on, "Now, since you've got a idea of what I know, perhaps now you will tell me why you are working with Seele?"  
"I can't!" Gendo said.  
"Why not?"  
"I just can't!"  
"Please..." Ranma pleaded.  
"No!"  
"Fine, please with a goddamn cherry on top!" "No!"  
Ranma sighed, "What's with the stick up your ass? Why can't you tell me? Does this have anything to do with you or your family?"  
Gendo flinched. Ranma caught that.  
"Yes, it does! But what?" Ranma persisted, "What does this have to do with you and your family? Tell me. I can help you."  
"How? You're only one man," Gendo said sullenly.  
Ranma smirked, "I'm much more than meets they eye. You have yet to even see what I am capable of."  
"It doesn't matter," Gendo got up.  
Ranma stood up and started glowing blue "Shit! Just fucking tell me! Are you goddamn stupid? I'm trying to help!"  
Gendo took a step back and fell to the ground, shocked at what he was seeing.  
Ranma, realizing that he was glowing, willed his ki to abate. After a moment, there was no more aura around him, "Sorry about that. I got angry. Anyway, just tell me. Look, you have my word that I'll tell no one."  
Gendo sighed. He knew that Ranma wouldn't go away. "Fine, I'll tell you," Gendo said in a resignated voice. He slowly got up and sat down on a chair next to Ranma. Ranma sat down also. "I have been forced to work for Seele," he said softly, looking over his shoulder, "You see, this entire city sits on top of seven N2 mines. And if I don't do as I'm told, this entire town will be destroyed...along with my family,"  
"So? Disable the mines," Ranma said. "Or evacuate the city..."  
Gendo shook his head, "I can do neither. The mines were put in shortly after the city became fortified. How it got there, I have no idea, but I know they are there. When the first Angel attack, the city was evacuated, but at that time, there were no mines. The mines had been put in sometime during the time when people were moving back into the city, and when the building were being fortified with steel plating."  
"Damn," Ranma said, listening intently, "Go on,"  
"Seele has chosen me to implement the Human Complement Project." Gendo said, "And I could do nothing to prevent it. If I refused, Seele will know I was coming on to them and would detonate the mines and rid all evidence of their involvment along with Nerv and...my family. I can't evacuate the city now because they'll find out. I can't look for the mines because they will find out also. They have spies all over the place. Hell, you could be one of the spies here to find out what I know." He looked down, "I can't trust anybody...except my family,"  
Ranma looked at Gendo sympathetically.  
Gendo took a deep breath and continued to tell everything, "I've been working on this Human Complement Project but have been going about trying to stall it as much as possible because I know that as soon as I'm finished, Seele will implement it. Alone, I have been going about trying to find Seele's secret location but I don't know what it is and it takes time because I have to go about doing this without making anyone suspicious."  
"Oh man," Ranma said, "So when I showed up, spouting all this stuff about the project and Seele and everything, you panicked because you believe I have either found out or someone will hear me and relay it to Seele,"  
Gendo nodded.  
"Damn," Ranma said, "This is deep. I'm sorry. I-I didn't know that..."  
Gendo sighed and said, "That's why I was so intent on getting you back to Nerv without anyone finding out because Seele is unaware of who you are or where you came from. Of course, when you disappeared..."  
"You believe Seele will find out," Ranma finished for him.  
"Yes," Gendo said, "I am in a very awkward bind. I have to work on the project while simultaneously work on fighting off the Angels. If the project is found out in anyway by the public, Seele will set off the mines. If the Angels succeed in destorying Nerv, humanity will die. If the project is finished, it will be implemented. Many times it has crossed my mind to expose Seele publically but I can't. The people at Seele are desperate people. They don't even care that destorying the evidence would also mean destorying Nerv...which would mean the Angels getting through."  
"Damn, that sucks," Ranma said. He got up off his seat, "And you're the only one here aware of all of this? Aside from myself that is,"  
Gendo nodded, "Yes."  
Ranma smiled weakly, "Actually, perhaps not. I saw Shinji today and went with him back to you home where I met Rei and your wife. Let's just say that I've been doing quite a bit of talking so they should be suspicious of something. Sorry. I wouldn't have done that if I had known all of this first,"  
"T-T-They know?" Gendo asked, his eyes wide.  
"Now they do,"  
"You fucking asshole!" Gendo shouted, getting up off his seat.  
Ranma stood up, "Don't do anything rash. It's too late now anyway. They know and there's nothing we can do about it. All we can do is tell `em to keep quiet. Also, what's there to be so scared about, I thought you said you trust your family,"  
Gendo calmed down a bit and composed himself, "Y-yes. I do."  
"When you're done with your work, or whatever, just tell `em to keep quiet on it when you get home," Ranma said.  
"I'll do that,"  
Ranma looked around, "Where is everybody?"  
"On standby," Gendo replied, "In case of another Angel attack, they will be able to respond immediately. Everyone went to the cafeteria to eat."  
"What about Misato and Ritsuko?" Ranma asked, looking about. "Where are they?"  
"In the brig,"  
Ranma was shocked to hear this at first but then realized something. It was perfectly logical that they would be put there because they would most likely be viewed as the reason to Ranma's supposed escape. But, since Ranma had come back, it was obvious that they had nothing to do with it. "I assume you believed it was their fault that I escaped."  
Gendo nodded. "They were going to be questioned in their involvment of your escape."  
"Well, I simply went out for a walk." He said, "I had a lot on my mind. But, since I'm here, it's obvious that I didn't supposedly escape. Well, let's go get them out,"  
Misato and Ritsuko stood outside on the helicopter landing pad. It was the same place where he and Naoko had a small talk before Ritsuko had appeared. The three of them were looking out at the city. It was now well past sundown and the city sparkled with lights.  
Ranma was leaning his back against the railing as the gazed at the two females standing before him.  
"You leaving like that was very uncalled for, you should have at least let someone know beforehand," Ritsuko said, a bit angry. She didn't like sitting in that cramped cell for several hours while Ranma walked around the city.  
"I'm sorry, I didn't know the consequences," Ranma apologized, "I was kinda used to the other world and how I acted there. I won't do it again,"  
Ritsuko gave a small smile, "Well, that's good to hear. Um, did you have enough time to think things over?"  
Ranma took a deep breath, "Yeah. I accept what you told me,"  
Misato was a bit surprised, "Gee, you don't seem to be taking it that hard,"  
"Let's just say it was because of a really good friend of mine," he replied, "She's a clone of the real person that I know...and she's no different. Since it doesn't bother her, and she's learned to accept it, it shouldn't bother me all that much to do the same for myself." He turned around and looked at the city, "Hey, what happened to the pilots that were supposed to swing on by earlier for the synchro test?"  
"You probably missed them since you were out so long," Ritsuko asked. "The tests only take a short while,"  
"Oh well, I'll meet them another time," he said non-chalantly. "Um, I have a few questions I'd like to ask the two of you,"  
"Like what?" Misato answered for the both of them.  
"When did I supposedly appeared in this world? After which Angel? Exactly how did I appear?"  
Ritsuko stepped forward and said, "It was right after the forteeth Angel. Suzuhara had somehow disappeared within the entry plug. After roughly a month, he reappeared, and so did you,"  
"That means there are three more Angel's left, ne?" he asked.  
"Yes,"  
"So, this took place right after Unit-01 ate that Angel?"  
"Yes. How did you know?"  
Ranma smiled, his back still toward the females, "The significant chain of events seem to take place in sequence. The differences between the events that unfold here as opposed to the other world is only slightly different from one another," "Is that so wrong?" Ritsuko asked,  
"Not really," Ranma said, "It just means it's much harder for me to predict what's going on. That's all. Nothing much to worry about,"

Ranma entered Gendo's office shortly after his little chat with Misato and Ritsuko. He didn't even bother to knock. That seemed to anger Gendo a bit.  
"What do you want?" Gendo asked, annoyed. He had been busy reading some documents, trying to come up with a plan to finding and ridding those N2 mines, where ever they were.  
Ranma smirked, "Not that I really give a damn, but you should go get some sleep. You do have a family at home waiting for you. If you're gonna use some lame excuse like you hafta stay in case of an Angel attack, it's useless. After talking to Misato and Ritsuko, I just found out that there are only three more Angels left."  
"For your information, there are four Angels left," Gendo said. He was going to have a talk with Ritsuko and Misato tomorrow. The eleventh Angel, the Angel that had attacked MAGI never occured. The MAGI's data recorder showed that no such incident had occurred.  
Ranma paused for a moment, and said, "Four Angels left? That's strange, I could have sworn I heard `em say there were three. Didn't the forteenth Angel attack?"  
"No, that was the thirteenth," "Damn, that's shot to hell then," Ranma said, "I figured I'd do ya a favor and tell you that the last three remaining Angels attacked during daylight. I can't remember when the forteenth Angel attacked."  
Gendo looked up at Ranma and said, "And what do you have to back this assumption up as to when these Angel will attack?"  
Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "I remember being told this. If you don't believe me, don't. Sooner or later, you'll start realizing I'm actually here to help. Anyway, perhaps a lack of sleep is a good reason why you could be so damn uptight all the time."  
There was an awkward silence. It was broken when Ranma said, "Can you do me a favor?"  
"What?"  
"I want to go to the children's school tomorrow," Ranma said, "I want to at least attempt to fix up the damage that my big mouth has caused. Anyway, I'd like to teach in their school. On the other world, I taught in the school for a short while and really enjoyed it. I'd like to do it again,"  
"No," Gendo said.  
Ranma sighed. After a moment, he said, "All right. How about you go home tonight to undo what I have done? Oh, wait, you're worried an Angel will attack, ne? Oh well, I guess I'll hafta do it." With that said, Ranma left.  
Gendo gritted his teeth.  
Asuka opened her locker and out out fell what seemed like a bagful of love letters.  
"I hate boys! They're all a bunch of idiots!" Asuka muttered to herself. She threw them to the floor and stepped on them, kicking them in the general direction of the trash bin. "I wish they would leave me alone,"  
Ranma watched as Asuka did this, smiling. "She acts like the same Asuka I know," he commented, leaning against the wall. He ignored several stares from girls as they passed by. Sure, he was out of place for a student, but he actually looked old enough to be a teacher.  
Knowing that class would soon be starting, Ranma turned his attention away from Asuka and onto a nearby door and read the room number. He realized that he was only doors away from the assigned room. He smirked. He sure didn't have much trouble getting getting Gendo's permission for him to teach here. The Gendo of this world was nowhere near as cold as the Gendo he disliked. Ranma assumed all Gendo had to do was make one phonecall to do all of this. He stepped back and looked down the hallway to his left and then to the right. The classroom could be in either direction because he didn't know which direction the roomnumbers counted up. Asuka, heading toward her room, bumped into Ranma as he took a step back.  
"Hey, watch where you're going!" Asuka nearly bit Ranma's head off. She was in a bad mood, especially after finding out her locker stuffed with pathetic love letters.  
Ranma wondered whether or not to introduce himself. He decided against it and pretend he didn't know her, at least not the other version of her. "Sorry `bout that." he said. "Um, I-I'm Ranma." It felt funny meeting Asuka for the first time...for the second time.  
"So?" Asuka said, eyes narrowing. Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "All right. See ya,"  
Asuka was a bit surprised at Ranma's reaction. Most of the time, the boys, even the older ones, would at least stay and try and get her name. She regarded Ranma for a moment as he walked away. He looked like he was too old to be in this school. "Hmph, he's probably too stupid and got left back several times in a row,"  
She watched him for a moment longer before she turned around and headed for her classroom.  
"Shinji," Asuka said, "Have you ever heard of a person named Ranma?"  
Shinji looked at Asuka and said, "Ranma? Yeah. He was at my house just the other day. Why?"  
Asuka jerked a thumb toward the door, "I saw him outside in the hallway,"  
"Really?" he asked, pleasantly surprised.  
"Who is he?"  
"He knows my family," Shinji answered her.  
At that moment, Ranma entered the room, "Sorry class," he said with a smile, "I didn't mean to be late"  
"Who the hell are you?" Toji said, leaning back in his seat.  
Ranma smirked. So that's Unit-01's pilot, huh, Ranma thought. He recognized the profile picture he had seen when he had been at Nerv a short while ago. He looked next to him and saw a boy with glasses. That must be Kensuke. And then he looked at the girl with brown hair and freckles sitting in the front of the class. That must be Hikari.  
"I'm the new teach," Ranma said with a grin.  
Shinji's jaw dropped. Asuka glared at him. Toji fell of his seat.  
"What?" the class seemed to ask in unison. Every teacher they had had been old and beyond his or her retirement years. It was quite odd seeing someone as young looking as Ranma teaching for a change.  
Ranma nodded, "Yep. I'm the new teach." He leaned against the front of the desk. "I'm replacing whoever your last teacher was," He looked directly at Shinji and pointed toward him, "Shinji, I'd like to have a private word with you,"  
"Me?" Shinji asked, pointing to himself, When Ranma nodded, Shinji got up off his seat and followed Ranma outside into the hallway. Once outside, he asked, "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"  
"Shinji, I'd like you to do me a favor," Ranma said, "Remember the conversation we had just a short while ago at your place? Don't tell anyone about it. Just keep in to yourself."  
"How come?"  
Ranma said, "I don't want word getting around about who I am"  
"Asuka asked me and I told her you had been by my place the other night," Shinji said slowly. He felt like he had already disappointed Ranma.  
Shrugging his shoulders, Ranma said, "Ah don't worry about it. If anyone asks you more about me, just say...I'm your uncle."  
"Um, okay,"  
"Gee, that was easy," Ranma commented to himself with a smile.  
Ranma and Shinji entered the class. Everyone in the class was talking among themselves. After Shinji sat down, Ranma asked for the class' attention. When only a few did actually stop and look up at him, Ranma turned toward the blackboard and scraped his fingernails across it. The high pitch and extremely irritating noise seemed to cause everyone to stop what they were doing and look up Ranma.  
"What the hell did you do that for?" Asuka was the first to ask, standing up, slapping her desk to emphasize her words.  
"Why to get your attention of course," Ranma said. He turned toward the blackboard and picked up a piece of chalk and wrote his name. Underneath it her wrote the word `Ki'. "My name's Ranma Satotome, but you can call me Ranma. I'm here to teach," He pointed toward the word and smiled.  
"What's ki?" Toji asked, still leaning back in your chair.  
Ranma smiled, "Please, don't lean back in your chair or I'll show you what ki is..."  
Toji looked at Ranma curiously, "What's wrong with my leaning in my chair?" Toji wanted to test this new teacher and see how dedicated he is to his profession.  
Ranma held an arm forward, open palm facing the ceiling. and smiled, "Because ki does can make you do something like...this!"  
He brought his arm back quickly, as if jerking a rope toward him.  
All of a sudden, a huge gush of wind emerged from what seemed like the ground. Papers started flying about, some even out the open window. Toji fell backwards and onto his back while all the girls screamed because they found their dresses being caught in the blast of wind and lifted upward.  
Ranma smirked, "That's ki. And today, I'll show you how to use it,"  
"You pervert!" the girls shouted.  
"Hm, perhaps I shouldn't have done that demonstration..." was all Ranma managed to say before several girls lunged toward him, intent on hurting him for his perverted ways.

The classbell rung.  
"Well class, that's all," Ranma joked, "Go home. Get outta here. I'm sick of seeing you. I'm not looking forward to seeing all of you tomorrow,"  
Everyone slowly made their way out of the classroom. However, before they actually left the classroom, everyone stopped at Ranma's desk and bowed to him respectfully, telling him that they had learn more in that one day than they had learned of anything all year. Of course, no one was or will be able to actually put Ranma's teachings to practical use. They just enjoyed hearing of the powers and potential the human body had.  
"Toji, Hikari, Kensuke, I'd like to talk to you...about something,"

Ranma entered the control room several hours after his little conversation. It was very odd how Ranma even managed to get into Nerv, let alone all the way to the control room without anyone stopping him.  
Naoko, who was looking at the data read outs, looked up at Ranma and smiled delightfully, "Hello, Ranma,"  
"G'afternoon," he said with a polite nod, smiling back. He greeted Misato and Ritsuko, who were also in the room. After greeting the three grils, Ranma turned around and spotted Gendo "Yo, Gendo, I wanna talk with ya privately for a moment. Ya busy?"  
"When did they get friendly with one another?" Misato whispered to Ritsuko, even nudging her.  
"I don't know," she replied.  
Gendo looked at Ranma for a moment. He did not like this man one bit. He got up off his seat, delegating the task to Misato and followed Ranma out into the hallway. "What do you want, Ranma?"  
"I have thought of a good plan to exposing Seele and not having to worry about the N2 mines blowing up in everyone's face," Ranma said. When Gendo eyed him carefully, Ranma continued on and said, "Why not use the EVAs to fan out and search for the mines? That way, if any of the mines blow up, the EVAs could use its AT field to keep the explosion to a minimum,"  
"It won't work. All mines are set to go off at the same time. Even if we manage to get three EVAs to generate an AT field over three mines, the four remaining ones is more than enough destroy the entire city," Gendo said. He had to admit that it was nice of Ranma to at least think try and come up with a plan, despite it resulting in a futile effort.  
Ranma sighed and said, "That sucks. Oh well, back to the drawing board. Don't worry Gendo, we're bound to come up with a plan to getting rid of the mines. I'll keep on trying to come up with a plan. Oh yeah, I talked to Shinji at school. And thanks for going outta your way to getting me into the school without any problems," Ranma turned around and headed down the corridor toward the mess hall, rubbing his now rumbling stomach.  
Gendo watched Ranma as he rounded a corner and disappeared. A moment later, Gendo turned around and headed back into the control room.

Ranma was in the mess hall, munching on food when he heard an alarm about twenty minutes after his conversation with Gendo.  
"I recognize that sound," he said, stuffing the rest of his meal in his mouth, "That means an Angel had been detected. All right,"  
He stood up, swallowed his meal, and ran toward the control room.

Ranma looked up at the screen and at the image of the Angel. He didn't recognize that Angel. "The Angel is currently in orbit," Misato commented, knowing Ranma was about to ask where the Angel was. "It seems to be too high for any of our weapons to hit it."  
Ranma said nothing. He could have sworn he rememebered being told that the the fifteenth Angel attacked from orbit. He remember also being told of another Angel that proceeded to drop parts of its body down to the Earth below as it they were bombs, but that Angel has already attacked. This had to be the fifteenth Angel, but Gendo mentioned that there were four more Angels left, making this one the forteenth.  
"Hm, perhaps the Angels that attack is outta sequence," Ranma commented to himself silently. He looked at the screen. The Angel looked like some weird looking thing with many appendages jutting out from its side. It had a slight white glow to it.  
"What are we going to do?" Maya asked.  
"Damn, the EVAs aren't meant to attack from this distance," Misato swore, gritting her teeth. "We need the use the positron rifle again," Ranma continued to stare at the screen. The Angel look like a tiny glowing being with giant white wings. That was the best Ranma could describe it if asked. "Does the Angel seem to be coming down here or is it staying up in orbit?"  
"Up in orbit," Maya said.  
Ranma said, "Where are the children?"  
"Kensuke is going to be sent up in an attempt to use the positron rifle," Misato said. She didn't even know why she was telling all of this to Ranma. He wasn't even allowed in the control room in the first place. But for some reason, she didn't find any problem enclosing information to him.  
"That's the mind raping Angel!" Ranma pointed, "That's the Angel that mind raped Asuka in the other world! I just know it!"  
"Mind raping Angel?" Maya asked, turning around in her seat.  
Ranma nodded, "Yes. It won't come down here and your positron rifle won't work. It's too far away that the energy from it, even at full power, won't affect it because it has a strong AT field."  
"H-how was it defeated on the other world?" Misato asked.  
Ranma rubbed his chin for a moment, thinking. "I forget."  
Misato an exasperated breath and turned toward the screen, "Is Unit-02 ready for launch?"  
"Yes," Maya replied.  
Ranma shouted, "No! Don't!" His voice echoed through the entire control room. Everyone turned toward Ranma, regarding him intently.  
"Kensuke is in Unit-02, ne? He's gonna get mentally raped! Asuka got all messed up in the head because of that Angel! You can't send him out!" Ranma said "I remember how you can defeat it! You use the Lance of Longinus!"  
"The Lance? We can't!" Gendo said, standing up.  
Ranma walked over the Gendo, and said in a soft voice, "That's the only way. But think of it as killing two birds with one stone. The Lance in needed for the Human Comlement Project, right? Well, if you get rid of it, you can delay the project."  
Gendo was silent.  
Ranma sighed, "God, you still don't believe I'm here to help, huh? Fine, I'll show you!"  
He ran from the room, heading straight for the EVA bay. But before he left, he turned around and said, "Misato, have all three children get out of the EVAs. You don't want them there to witness what I'm going to do. They don't know about me and it's best that you keep it that way!" Misato looked at Gendo a moment after Ranma left, wondering what she should do, if she should do as Ranma said.  
Gendo nodded, "Do it,"  
"Unit-01 is moving!" Maya shouted. It had been about five minutes since the children had been put in a safe location, away from everything.  
"How the hell is it moving?" Misato said, "I want to see it on the view screen NOW! Is this Ranma's doing?"  
Maya hit a few buttons and picture of Ranma standing on top of Unit-  
01's shoulder came on the screen.  
"W-what's going on here?" Ritsuko said, "How is it moving? There are no pilots in that EVA. Toji isn't in there," She stopped. Perhaps her hypothesis was correct, "Oh god, it's Ranma that's making it move!" See turned toward Misato, "Don't you remember, Misato? When we were in the EVA bay and Unit-01 moved on its own to swat those guards? It was Ranma that caused it to do it!"  
"What the hell is he up to?" Misato said to herself.  
"Unit-01 is currently making its way...toward Central Dogma!" Maya said, reading the screen read outs.  
"S-stop him! Why the hell is he going down there?"  
Ranma stood above Unit-01 shoulder as the elevator descended toward Central Dogma. He was smiling a bit, knowing that everyone in the control room was going ballistic trying to figure out what he was up to. Gendo would be all calm about it because he knew exactly what Ranma was up to since he was the only he had told.  
He looked up at Lilith as she was crucified on the red cross, the Lance of Longinus embbedded into her chest.  
"All right, buddy, go fetch that spear thingie," Ranma said, crossing his arm, leaning against the shoulder compartment that held the progressive knife. He didn't need to actually tell Unit-01 what to do, but enjoyed pretending Unit-01 was responding to his vocal commands.  
Unit-01 pulled the Lance out of the Lilith chest.  
"Let's kill that Angel," he said with a smirk.

Ranma and Unit-01 was stopped while they were on their way toward the launch pad. Misato stood in front of them.  
"What's up?" Ranma asked, now sitting on Unit-01 shoulder. He knew she was going to give him hell about what he was doing.  
"I-I came to give you this communicator," she said.  
Ranma was suprised to hear what she said. Noticing the communicator in her hand, he casually leapt of the EVA and fell toward the ground over a hundred feet below. Just moments before he hit the ground, he twisted forward in mid air and landed on his feet. Misato seeing him do this, took a step back and tripped over he own feet. She had never seen someone do something so incredible. Every single bone in his legs should be broken from the impact caused from his landing. "W-what the hell are you?"  
Ranma smirked as he took Misato's hand and helped her up. He took the communitcator and placed it over his head. "Thanks,"  
"H-how did you do that?" Misato asked.  
He shrugged his shoulders, "There's a lot more stuff that I could do. This happens to be one of `em," He chuckled, "Wait until you see my ki-  
blasts,"  
"K-ki-blasts?"  
Ranma smiled, "You're bound to find out sooner or later."  
With that said, Ranma did yet another feat that shocked Misato. He ran toward a neaby wall and jumped up toward it, triangle jumping off it and onto Unit-01's shoulder.  
Unit-01 and Ranma proceeded toward the launch pad.

"What are you going to do?" he heard Misato's voice.  
Ranma looked up at the sky, "I'm gonna make Unit-01 throw the Lance at the Angel and kill it."  
"You're going to what?" Misato shouted, nearly blowing out Ranma's eardrums.  
"No need to shout, jeez," Ranma replied, "I'm gonna kill the Angel. The only way to destroy it is to use the Lance to destroy it"  
He continued to look up at the sky, wondering exactly where the Angel was as it orbitted around the Earth. The was no way he could see it with the naked eye. He trusted that Unit-01 was able to see it and launch the Lance right through the Angel's core.  
All of a sudden a white beam of light shone in through the sky and seemed to enveloped Ranma and Unit-01.  
"Ah, fuck!" Ranma shouted, placing a hand in front of his face as he was slowly being mind raped. "What the hell is going on? Something is trying to get into my brain!"  
"Ranma!" Misato said, "What's going on out there?"

A sixteen year olf Ranma was sitting in the dining area of the Tendo home as he ate breakfast with his father and the Tendos.  
Ranma was about to grab the last pickle when his father grabbed it and ate it.  
"What the hell didja do that for?" Ranma shouted, "That pickle was mine!"  
"It's all a part of your training, my boy," Genma said. "Training my butt!" Ranma said, standing up. He grabbed his father by his gi collar and shoulder threw him into the koi pond that was in the backyard. A moment later, a giant Panda, a pair of glasses hanging from one of its ears, surfaced. It had an angry look on its face.  
"Suck on that, old man!" Ranma said with a smirk.  
All of a sudden a black piglet appeared out of nowhere and lunged at Ranma, biting him on one of his arms. "Argh! Let go!"  
Ranma grabbed P-chan by the throat and slammed him down on the table.  
"Ranma you idiot!" Akane shouted as she brough a hammer down on his head, sending it crashing down into the table, breaking the table in half.  
Ranma got up, fuming, as he shouted, "What'd ya do that for?"  
"It's because you hit my P-chan!" she retorted.  
"Bwee!"  
"Y-you're so uncute!" Ranma rebuked.  
Akane brought her mallet up again to knock Ranma back into the floor, but her eyes widened as she looked over Ranma's shoulder and saw something flying directly at the house. "What the?"  
Ranma, noticing Akane, turned around to see what she was looking at. It only took a second for Ranma to realize that those incoming projectiles were missles. The missles flew right into the house through the open back entrance. In a blinding light, the Tendo's and Ranma's father were killed.

"Get the hell outta my head!" Ranma shouted, still holding his face. Tears were starting to form around his eyes as he was forced to relive his friends and family's death all over again. To see them all die, and to be unable to do anything about it made him feel utterly helpless.  
While still on Unit-01's shoulder, Ranma dropped to his knees and placed both hands on his head and cried out as if he was in pain. In the few seconds that his mind was being raped, he was reliving the moment his life changed forever over and over again.  
It was intense. Ranma figured he could stand having his mind raped because he had gone through so much and figured he could handle it. Boy, was he wrong. Everything felt so real, as he was reliving it all over again, like he was right there.  
Back at Nerv Headquarters, Maya said, "I don't know what's going on but Unit-01 doesn't seem to be moving." She looked at the visual of Ranma as he stood on Unit-01's shoulder, "He seems to be in obvious pain,"  
"Ranma, what's going on?" Misato asked. She remembered Ranma mentioning something about one of the pilots on the other world being mind raped. Perhaps Ranma is going through the same thing that that pilot had gone through.  
"I'm being mind raped, that's what's going on!" Ranma's angered voice entered the room. He was starting to get angry as he was forced to relive everything that he wanted to forget. "D-don't do anything! I-  
I'm fine!" But Ranma wasn't fine. It was taking all his willpower to keep from going beserk and believing he was back in Nerima during that fateful day and sending out ki-blasts toward those boomers that he could see before him.  
This continued on for several long and agonizing minutes as Ranma struggled with reality and dream. But as time passed, the torrent emotions he was feeling seemed to get weaker and weaker as he slowly started getting used to the mind rape. It seemed that his assumption on the human mind, as well as the human body's ability to adapt proved correct.  
In that brief moment of pure clarity, when Ranma knew that he was perfectly fine, he had Unit-01 launch the Lance of Longinus toward the Angel still in orbit. The Lance shot through the clouds, seemingly parting the heavens as it spiralled up toward the sky at escape velocity, and right into and through the Angel, killing it.  
Ranma looked up into the sky for a moment as he saw a white light spread out throughout and smiled as he realized that it was from the Angel exploding. He slowly got up to his feet, twitching a few times, walking the fine line between sanity and insanity.  
"I've killed the Angel." he said before closing his eyes and falling forward, off Unit-01 and onto the ground far below.

Ranma awoke.  
"W-where am I?" he asked as he looked around.  
"In the infirmary," Misato said. She was the only one by his bedside. Ranma sat upright, pinching the ridge of his nose, "God, what a headache. I must've landed on my head after I fell of that EVA,"  
Misato was silent. If he had landed on his head, he would have died. But then again, anyone falling from a distance that high should have died also. How Ranma survived, without even a bruise, she could not understand for the life of him.  
Ranma stretched out his arms and yawned. "How long was I out?"  
"A few hours," she answered, "It's close to seven at night now,"  
He hopped out of his bed, rubbing his head, twtiching a bit as if trying to force something out of his head, "My mind feels fried. Where I am right now, it doesn't even feel real to me. I'm having problems telling the difference between reality and fiction."  
"What happened back there?"  
Ranma took a deep breath and said, "That Angel made me relive the time when my family and friends all died," He looked at his hands, "I was there, and I knew what was going to happen, but I couldn't do anything. Rather, I acted like it everything would be all right. It felt like some reoccurring nightmare that I couldn't wake up from,"  
"Are you all right?" she asked, reaching a hand out and taking his hand.  
Ranma looked at Misato's hand and then back at her and smiled slightly, "Yeah, I think so. It's just that I went through something I'd rather forget. That's all." He laughed to himself, "I'm just grateful I didn't hafta relive the time I learned the Nekoken. I guess I got off lucky, "  
"The Nekoken?"  
"Don't worry about it. It's kinda like my curse, meaning I don't like talking about it anyway. It's kinda embarrassing," he said. He looked down at the hospital gown he was wearing. He saw a pair of clothes neatly stacked on a chair in the corner of the room, "I'm gonna change,"  
"Go right ahead," Misato said with a smirk. She was shocked when she saw Ranma proceed to take this hospital gown off. Only when his gown fell down to Ranma's ankles did Misato turn around, blushing a bit. Misato's heart starting beating rapidly. She was joking around and trying to call Ranma's bluff but he called hers.  
Ranma put on his clothes and faced Misato, "Oh, in case you're wondering. I lack a thing called modesty."  
She smiled, "Perhaps that explains your arrogance at times,"  
Ranma chuckled heartily.  
"You seemed to have taken that Angel experience pretty lightly," Misato commented.  
He shrugged his shoulders and said, "I guess so. But then again, it happened a long time ago. I've learned to let it go. Besides, I've avenged their deaths. There's nothing much else I could do about it. Hey, where are the children?"  
"They've been temporarily confined to their respective sleeping quarters. They're currently unaware about all that had happened. They believe it was all a false alarm,"  
Ranma said, "That's good to hear. I need to see Gendo. Is here still here?"  
"What for? And no, he isn't here. He went home to be with his family,"  
Ranma smiled, "So, it seems he's finally taking my advice. It's about time he realized I'm not the bad guy,"

Gendo's mouth nearly dropped to the floor when he answered the door and saw Ranma.  
"What's up?" Ranma said with a smirk. He didn't seem to have any problem convincing Misato to let him have free reign to go where ever he wanted.  
"What are you doing here?" Gendo asked.  
"I came here to talk to you about some stuff, some pretty important stuff," Ranma said.  
"I have some questions I've been meaning to ask you," Gendo said, eyeing Ranma, "Why did you go and tell my kids that I flyfish and play tennis and golf?"  
Ranma laughed, "Oops. I forgot about that. I kinda misjudged you at first and wanted to embarrass you by telling `em that."  
Gendo was silent. After a moment, he stepped out of the house and took a deep breath and said, "What questions do you have for me?"  
"Did Seele grill ya for using the Lance of Longinus?" Ranma asked.  
Gendo shook his head, "Actually, no. They didn't. I find it rather strange because the Lance is a very important key to the project,"  
"It's not as important as you think because they're making an imitation Lance of Longinus as we speak," Ranma said, "Don't bother asking me how I know because I just do. Anyway, I've been thinking about what you had told me, about there being four Angels remaining. Something doesn't add up,"  
"There are only two Angels remaining now," Gendo said.  
"I figured," Ranma said, "You were lying to me back then."  
Gendo was silent but he nodded.  
"I didn't figure it out at first but during the descent down to Central Dogma to fetch the Lance, I had some time to think." Ranma began, looking out toward the sky, his back toward Gendo, "I forgot about the...I think it was the tenth Angel, right? It was the Angel that invaded MAGI, which ever Angel that was."  
"It was the eleventh Angel," Gendo corrected him.  
"Yeah, whatever," Ranma said, "Anyway, I was just curious about it, that's all. I have another question. What did you do with Toji? Do any of the children know about this?"  
"Toji is at home. He knows nothing about this," Gendo answered, "Why?"  
"Well, because at this point in time, one of the pilots must become incapable of piloting an EVA unit. Since I used Unit-01, we should pretend that Toji piloted it, not me because Seele probably doesn't know about me. That means we hafta somehow incapacitate him,"  
"I don't seem to understand,"  
"The last Angel comes in the form as an EVA replacement pilot," Ranma said, "How will you go about getting Seele to send you a replacement pilot when Toji is very capable of piloting an EVA? You get it?"  
"I get it," Gendo said, placing both hand on the balconey railing, looking out at the city.  
"I don't know where Toji lives. Can you tell me where he lives?"  
"What do you plan on doing?"  
Ranma thought about it for a moment. "I know special pressure points that would make it seem like he's in a coma. I'll swing on by his place and press those pressure points. All he'll be doing is sleeping. Of course, no one would really know that, not even Seele. You see, no one knows that I piloted Unit-01. We can pretend that Toji piloted it, but, since he's in a supposed coma, he won't be awake to explain it, ne?"  
Gendo smiled a bit. That planned seemed highly plausible.  
"You see, since the children have been confined to their sleeping quarters, they haven't interacted with each other so they don't know what the other did. You can simply tell the other two pilots about what Toji did, but of course, Toji will be in no condition to talk,"  
"I must admit, that's a rather brilliant plan," Gendo commented.  
Ranma smirked, "I know. Over the years, I've learned to come up with plans on the fly. I realize in thise world, it's more brains than brawn so I guess I adapted,"  
Ranma knocked on the door Toji's sleeping quarters. It was very late and Toji had been watching some TV, getting ready to goto sleep. When he answered the door, he was surprised to see Ranma.  
"Hey, Toji, what's up?" Ranma said with a smile.  
"W-what are you doing here?" Toji asked, shock in his voice.  
Ranma took a deep breath and then said, "I'm sorry about what I'm gonna do. Nothing personal,"  
He shot his hand forward at blinding speed and struck Toji in several places. Toji's eyes opened for a moment before they closed as he slumped forward and toward Ranma as if he were dead. Ranma crouched low as Toji slumped over one of his shoulders and picked him up.  
"Nothin' to worry about, you're gonna wake up from this feeling like you've had the best sleep in your life," Ranma said softly.  
He closed Toji's door, and then turned around and lepted up to the rooftops where he proceeded to run toward Nerv Headquarters. When he got there, Misato was there and was surprised to see him showing up at such a late time.  
"What are you doing back here?" she asked, "And why do you have Toji with you? Is he all right?"  
Ranma nodded, "He's fine. I'm here to carry out a plan."  
"I don't understand,"  
Ranma told Misato the same things he had told Gendo. After a short while, she understood. Together, they brough Toji to the infirmary and laid him down to rest on a bed. They proceeded to attach several tubes to Toji's sleeping form, apologizing for having to do this to him while he was unconsious. After a few minutes of doing so, Toji really looked like he was in a coma.  
"I can't believe he's only sleeping," Misato commented. She almost felt like she was going to cry. Toji looked like he was in a deep coma and was never going to wake up.  
"He's gonna sleep for several days," Ranma said, "But if it'll make you feel any better, I can wake him up whenever I like. See for yourself," He pressed a pressure point. Toji's eyes slowly opened as he slowly yawned and proceeded to stretch his arms out. Ranma pressed several pressure points again and Toji fell right back asleep. "Cool, huh?" he said with a smirk.  
Ranma looked at the view screen and at the sixteenth. Several days has passed since Ranma had brought Toji into the infirmary. The two remaining pilots didn't seem suspect to anything, even having gone as far as to visiting the comatose Toji to praise him on him single-  
handedly defeating the Angel.  
Misato and the others had been told about Ranma's plan, and they all preceeded to act like Toji had been the one that defeated the Angel. They also acted sad that Toji had been incapacitated as a pilot and was currently acting like they were in search of a new one.  
He said, "It looks a cheerio,"  
"More like a halo found on an angel with wings," Misato commented.  
"So this is the sixteenth Angel," Gendo said, eyeing the screen intently. "How did we...um, our other selves defeat it?" Misato asked.  
"Lettme think for a moment," Ranma paused, scratching his chin in though, "Oh, I remember, you used Unit-00 to defeat it,"  
"How?"  
"You made it self destruct," Ranma said seriously, "Of course, not only did it blow up the Angel, but it also blew up the enitre city along with it. And speaking frankly, I suggest you not do this."  
Ritsuko commented softly, "Well, so it seems like this is where the other world and this world will differ. We difinitely can't do that. Too many lives are at stake,"  
Ranma headed out of the control room, "All right, I guess this is where I finally show you what I'm capable of,"  
"What did you say?" Misato asked.  
Ranma smirked, "It's about time I you see me in action,"

Ranma stood above the tallest building.  
"Are the two children ready to launch yet?" he asked, tapping his communicator. "Hello? Is this thing on?"  
"Yes, it's on," he heard Misato's voice, "We hear you loud and clear. And yes, the children are ready to launch. They're both on standby,"  
"I'm gonna break the Angel's AT field," Ranma said, "After that, have the two children run to the nearest armament building and grab a long ranged weapon and pick the Angel off from a distance. Whatever you do, don't have the children get near that Angel. In the other word, one of the pilots got caught inside that ring and couldn't escape. I was told she had to self destruct the EVA to not only destroy the Angel, but to save the other pilot,"  
Ranma took a deep breath.  
"Um, all right, get read to send `em up," he said.  
After Maya punched in the buttons that would launch Unit-00 and Unit-  
02, everyone watched Ranma the screen. The nearest camera was only a short distance away and behind Ranma, meaning they got a good view of Ranma's back and the Angel a far distance ahead of him. They watched as Ranma held both hands in front of him as if he was pressing his hands against an invisible wall if front of him. A moment later, he cupped his hands as if holding a tiny invisible ball and this blue aura formed around. He brought his cupped hand down toward his right hip. A moment later, light shot through his fingertips as energy took on a tangible form in his cupped hands.  
"W-what the h-hell is that?" Misato said, taking a step closer, looking at the screen, not daring to blink. Everyone was also staring at the screen in awe. They all swore to themselves that they what they were seeing wasn't possible.  
Maya said, "MAGI is going crazy trying to process the incoming data that Ranma is generating"  
"Leave it be," Gendo said, "Just watch. It would return to normal as soon as Ranma does his task," Whatever it is, Gendo thought to himself. He found himself actually wanting to get out of his seat and walking over the the screen for a better look.  
Everyone looked at Gendo and then turned around and faced the screen, watching intently.  
Ranma smiled. He loved the feeling of ki as it flowed through his entire body. Knowing that he didn't need to go ballistic with the power levels, he brought both hands forward and shot out a moderately powerful ki-blast from his hands. "Oh my god!" Ritsuko said, watching the screen as she saw a golden sphere of energy erupt from Ranma's hands and growing until it was roughly as large as Ranma in radius, and then shot forward through the air right at the halo-looking Angel. Even from within the mountain where Nerv was located, everyone could hear and feel the sonic boom as the ki-  
blast shot through the air well beyond supersonic speeds. If it weren't for the steel plates that had been raised in front of the buildings to protect them, windows would have shattered outward from the drag effect of the projectile sailing through the air.  
The blast struck the Angel and enveloped it. A massive mushroom of destructive energy erupted into the sky, the base of that blast seemingly consuming the Angel. Ranma smiled as he watched this because he noticed that just moments before the blast erupted, a red AT field that surrounded the Angel could be seen shattering like glass.  
Ranma tapped his communicator, "Hello? Does this thing still on? Well, I've done my job. The rest should be easy for the two children," He turned around and faced the camera, looking at in and smiling. It looked like he could see through the camera and right into the control room. "Hey, Misato, you can close your mouth now," he said, giving her a thumbs up.  
"H-how did you know?"  
"What? I was only kidding. I was just taking a guess. I can't believe I'm right. That's so funny."  
Ranma heard a rumbling noise. He turned around and saw the front of a nearby building opening up to reveal Unit-00. He knew Unit-02 would be somewhere nearby. Seconds later, he saw another building opening up several blocks away from him to reveal Unit-02.  
He slowly walked up to the edge of the building and watched as both EVAs slowly made their way through the city and to an armament building and pull out some heavy duty artillery. "Yeah, bring in the big guns!" he said gleefully like a little kid. He almost cheered for them, totally forgetting that the entire control room was watching him as he proceeded to jump up and down happily as he watched Unit-00 and Unit-02 barrage the defenseless Angel with everything they had.  
The battle went without a hitch and without anybody outside of the Nerv control room knowing of Ranma's presence.

Ranma munched down on his meal, nearly inhaling his pizza one slice at a time.  
"Can you explain what you just did?" Ritsuko asked, very very curious and dying to know. She and everyone else in the control room was now in the mess hall, sitting around a table, watching Ranma as he ate ravenously. The two children were no where to be seen. They were probably home or perhaps celebrating the Angel's easy defeat.  
"Man, this is good pizza," Ranma said, mouth still full, "Thanks for the grub, Gendo. What you saw me do just a short while ago was the result of ki. Remember what I told you the other day? Well, that was my little demonstration of it," "How...where...when did you learn it?" Maya asked. "I learned it when I was very young." Ranma began, already inhaling his third pizza slice "Basically, the way it goes is like this. My friend, Ryoga, wanted to kill me. He got trapped in a cave and this miner gave him a scroll that showed him how to channel his ki. After he learned it, he came after me and wanted to kill me. Since I was at a disadvantage because I didn't know a purely ki-based attack like that, I forced myself to learn it."  
"Ryoga? Who's he? If he's your friend, then why would he kill you?" Ritsuko asked.  
"He's more like my nemesis," Ranma said, "We're pretty much arch rivals. Most of the time, we try and kill each other. I don't blame him. I got him cursed. Anyway, it was pretty much because of him that I learned to do what I can do. Wait, that's not true, I learned the Hiryu Shoten Ha because I lost all my strength,"  
"The Hiryu Shoten Ha?" Misato asked, looking at Ranma curiously, chewing on a slice of her pizza.  
"It's another one of my techniques," Ranma answered patiently, "I have many variations of it. It's basically summoning a hurricane. Back then, the technique was based upon keeping myself cool and in control while my opponent gets hot with anger. But over the years, I've learned to summon it without relying on those aspects."  
And so, Ranma spent most of his time answering the many many questions everyone, even Gendo, proceeded to ask him one right after another. He eventually told him about his past, minus the curse. About his training trip in the mountains of China before he finally came back to Japan and found his homeland nothing like he remembered.  
"Technology advances," Ritsuko said logically. "And, since you were in the mountains for thirty plus years, cut off from civilization, it's perfectly reasonable your shock when you see how much your Japan has changed,"  
Ranma smirked, "Well, because of me and several friends, we ended up setting the entire world back at least a few decades in terms of technology because I managed to bring down a megacorporation that was intent on taking over the world,"  
"Taking over the world?" Misato asked, a bit shocked, "I always thought those kind of...villains existed in books,"  
Ranma smirked, "And I supposed fighting Angels sent by god that are intent of destroying the human existence is perfectly all right."  
The conversation progressed onto other subjects, most of the questions about the tribulations and hardships Ranma had been through. Eventually, it led up to Ranma's stay on the other world and his opinion on the differences between this one and the other.  
"There's not much differences. Everything seems to happen in sequence," Ranma answered, "The differences aren't all that great. It's the reason for these chain of events that seem to differ from the other world. For instance, on the other world, Unit-01 ate that Angel because it went beserk. In this world, Unit-01 ate that Angel because it went beserk...but as a result of the use of the dummy plug. Same outcome, different reasons."  
"I have a theory," Ritsuko asked, "Perhaps time is supposed to be linear but if it were to ever veer off down a different path, it would slowly right itself to the corrected timeline,"  
Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "Perhaps. I'm not gonna dwell on it. It'll most likely give me a head ache."  
Everyone continued to chat well past the end of their workday and late into the night. It seems Ranma was just that interesting.

In an place unknown, where the exact time could not be determined, several people were speaking.  
"This turn of events was quite unexpected,"  
"It doesn't matter. He will prove quite useful to us. He will be the key to everything. He is the Human Compliment Project."  
"Yes. But what should we do? There are still Angels to worry about"  
"Nothing. We keep an eye on him. There are only two Angels remaining to worry about, after that, we will implement the final phase of our plan,"  
"Yes,"  
"How is the status on the Second Children, Suzuhara?"  
"He is in a coma and unfit to pilot Unit-01,"  
"Excellent, send in his replacement,"

Several days after the battle with the sixteenth Angel went without incident. The children suspected nothing. Everyone seemed to keep things quiet. Everyone outside Nerv seemed to believe Ranma was an actual Nerv operative, which was quite strange because he didn't wear Nerv a uniform. Even though he had been there for a short while, people seem to have grown quite fond of him, especially Ritsuko, Naoko, Maya, and Misato for some reason. Of course, being professional, none of them really showed their feelings.  
To everyone, Ranma seemed to be some kind of savior and enigma. They had no real idea where he slept. When he had told them where ever, sometimes even on the streets, none of them could recall ever seeing him actually asleep. Although Ranma was considered an enimga, that didn't seem to scare anyone because everyone seemed to have gotten used to dealing with things they know little about, like the EVAs for exchange.  
It was around noon time when Ranma entered Gendo's office. Gendo, who was busy reading some documents, looked up at Ranma and said, "What do you want?"  
"There's only one more Angel left," Ranma said, sitting down, "Man, I'm glad you have chairs in here. Your otherself made people stand,"  
Gendo cleared his throat and said, "Yes, I'm well aware of the final Angel,"  
"Yes, he will come in the form of a replacement pilot by the name of Kaworu if I remember correctly," Ranma said. "Um, what do you plan on doing with that Angel now that you know about him?"  
"I don't know," Gendo said. "I have an idea," Ranma said after a short moment. He crossed his legs and said, "Why not grill him for Seele's location. Since Seele sent him, he should know something on them, like their whereabouts,"  
Gendo shook his head, "It is highly unlikely. The people of Seele are very smart and would not allow someone like that Kaworu Angel to know anything about them. It might even be that they somehow manipulated Kaworu into coming here in the first place..."  
Ranma leaned back in his chair, "Well, only time will tell," There was a moment of awkward silence.  
"Have you come up with any ideas as to how to getting rid of those N2 mines?" Ranma asked.  
Gendo shook his head, "No. But I've managed to finally find out where they are located throughout the city."  
"Oh?"  
"There are six mines located near the outskirts of the city," Gendo said. He turned the paper he was reading over and picked up a pen. He proceeded to place six dots on the paper in the that would create a circle if they were conncected. He then placed a dot in the middle of the circle and then gave Ranma the paper, "That's basically how the mines are located, at equal distance from one another. If you conncent the dots, it'll make a star with an N2 mine in its middle."  
"If you draw a circle around the star, it'll look like a pentagram," Ranma commented, his face serious. Unable to seemingly remain serious to prolonged periods of time, Ranma chuckleda bit and said, "Seven eyes on Liltith. Seven N2 mines. And now a pentagram. All these symbolisms are kinda freaky, ne?"  
Gendo looked at Ranma but didn't smile.  
"I wish I had your easy going attitude, Ranma,"

"Where are you going, Ranma?"  
"What are you, my mother?" Ranma said with a smirk. When he noticed Misato getting a bit angry at him, he said, "I was just poking fun. That's all. Anyway, I'm going out to town to get some lunch. I'm kinda sick and tired of pizza and or cafeteria food. Ya wanna come with me?"  
Misato looked a bit cresfallen. She sighed as she said, "I'm sorry. I have to stay behind and help conduct the synchro tests. Even though we already know what the next Angel is, we can't simply sit around and do nothing because people will start getting suspicious. And exactly how and where do you get the money to buy food? You had nothing to your name when you appeared here,"  
Ranma smiled, "It wasn't that hard. I simply asked someone to lend me a couple of bucks. Hey, I was even offered dinner on several occasions. That's cool,"  
"Who?" Misato asked. She found herself getting a bit jealous.  
Ranma smiled, "Nope. I ain't telling ya. If it'll make you feel better, I didn't accept. No need to get jealous,"  
"I-I wasn't getting jealous!" Misato found herself getting angry. "What makes you even think that?"  
All he did was smile. Actually, it was more like grin. "Yeah right. You're jealous that you didn't ask me out first. Look on the bright side, at least you won't have to go through that feeling when I decline,"  
"Why you arrogant, chauvanistic, sexist-" Ranma chuckled, "I assume you feel bad that you have to stay and work, ne? Because that would mean you can come to lunch with me,"  
"Why would I want to go to lunch with you?"  
Ranma laughed. Ranma was walking down the street, ignoring several stares that several passing females gave him. He was eating a large hero with the works as he headed down a random street, enjoying the life of the city. He was enjoying the hero so much that didn't even realize he was eating bits of the paper package that it was handed to him in. He had to admit the Tokyo of this world and the Tokyo-3 of the other was a bit different. Tokyo-3 had buidling that surmerged into the ground while Tokyo had steel plates that raised out of the ground to cover the sides of the buildings. There were also more people walking the streets.  
He was finishing his hero when he saw a crowd of people running around the corner and running pass him, seemingly running for his or her life.  
Curious, Ranma headed up the street and looked around the corner. What he saw made him almost bring up the hero he had just recently finished. His stomach churned as he looked up and caught sight of someone very familiar to him hovering in the air in the middle of the street. It was a person he would never forget.  
"What the fuck?" was all Ranma could say as he looked at a grown-up Saffron. "Y-you've gotta be k-kidding me!" he also added, looking up into the sky as if talking to God himself.  
Saffron smiled and said, "So, we meet again,"  
"B-but h-how?" he stuttered. He felt Saffron's terriffic aura of power. It was far more powerful than he had last remembered.  
"After our battle where you actually defeated me, I regenerated and took the form of an egg once again. Remember?" Saffron sneered arrogantly, "Although I was a mere baby and couldn't talk, I had retained all my memories. It only took several years before my mind was tapped and the memories came back to me. For all these years since that battle, I have vowed to seek my revenge on the one man that defeated me. I have come to fight you, to take away everything that you hold dear."  
Ranma took a step back.  
"I remembered everything." Saffron continued, "I remembered when you used that rivised Hiryu Shoten Ha to defeat me. You only managed to defeat me because your arm had been encased in ice which concentrated your Hiryu Shoten Ha's power. Heh, I remember seeing Akane leaping in front of my own blast, allowing that tiny opening for you to send that blast right into me. You got lucky, and this time around, you won't be as lucky. I challenge you to the death, Ranma! Do you hear me? And I have no intention of losing like I did on that fateful day!"  
Ranma took a tentative step back, "Hold up. What do you mean c-  
challenge?"  
"You have taught me a valuable lesson," Saffron sneered, "You have actually humbled me in some ways, showed me that I still had a long way to go with my training. That is way I trained constantly, vowing to not only defeat you, but to destroy you! If I could, I would erase your miserable existence!" Saffron chuckled menacingly, "Are you afraid to die, Ranma? Because on this day, you will..."  
Ranma composed himself, swallowing the lump in his throat. He knew he had gotten much much stronger over the years, "Saffron, don't underestimate me."  
"I won't," Saffron said. "But don't you dare underestimate me either. I was weak back then, a mere babe compare to the powers I now possess,"  
Ranma smirked, "Do you still possess that glass jaw of yours? What with you being pampered and all..." He knew that the only way was to make Saffron get angry. If Saffron fought with a clear head, Ranma would be done for.  
Saffron smirked, "I see your plan. You're trying to get me angry, ne? Well it won't work,"  
Ranma was silent. He willed himself to calm down. After a moment, he spoke, "All right. I guess it won't work. Let's fight,"  
"Aren't we eager to die?" Saffron commented, moving forward. Actually, it was more like floated forward. He stopped when he was one several feet away. "It doesn't matter to me," Ranma said, finally, truly accepting his origin, "I'm only a clone of the real Ranma. It wouldn't matter to anyone if you kill me because no one knows I exist"  
The seemed to catch Saffron off guard. "W-what did you say?"  
"I am a clone," Ranma retorted, "I am not the real Ranma."  
Saffron looked disappointed for only a fraction of a second but Ranma had noticed. He chuckled and said, "Well, it doesn't matter if you are a clone or not. Where ever the real Ranma is, I will find him,"  
"How?"  
Saffron extended a hand out, palm upward. A moment later, a mirror materialized, "This is the nanban mirror I took from Ryoga shortly after I killed him. I never even bothered to ask him where you were,"  
"W-what?" Ranma shouted, his anger rising. "Y-you killed Ryoga?"  
Saffrom smiled, "Yes. It was a pathetic fight. He couldn't withstand one of my weaker ki-blasts. But he was lucky though. He died quickly."  
"Y-you fucking asshole!" Ranma sneered, his aura flaring. "You better pray Ryoga is all right!"  
"Bah, do you see me praying, Ranma?" Saffron retorted with a laugh. "No. You better pray. You better pray I don't find your other friends! I will make them suffer the same fate as Ryoga and what you will soon too."  
Ranma, blind with rage, fighting for not only his life but for his friends, lunged forward in an attempt to grab Saffron's throat to strangle him to death. He wanted to see Saffron's face as the life left him. Unfortunately for Ranma, Saffron disappeared.  
"W-what the?" Ranma said, stumbling forward for balance.  
A moment later a massive explosion erupted on Ranma's back, propelling Ranma forward in a nearby building. A second before his body crashed into the building, a red field of energy surrounded him. Floating about twenty feet in the air, an arm extended toward where Ranma had once been, was Saffron. Saffron had seen the AT field but had no idea what that red rippling energy field was or its significance, but he was not worried.  
The building collapsed on Ranma. Luckily, the hundred of hapless victims inside the collapsing building died a quick death and felt little or no pain. When the dust subsided, all that remained was massive pile of rubble. Human remains could bee seen among the drebris. Ranma was nowhere to be seen.  
Saffron floated over to the rubble, "Pathetic That was a pathetic fight..."  
"You will die!" Ranma shouted, exploding with pure rage. The mass of derbis exploded upward to reveal Ranma, his arua glowing a bright blue. His clothes were singed badly "You have no fucking idea who you're mesing with!"  
Saffron laughed. "Am I supposed to be scared?"  
Ranma ignored Saffron's comments as he walked forward. The debris on the ground seemed to move on its own by some unseen force, parting toward one side as Ranma walked by. "Do you really think you can kill me that easily, Saffron? Do you?" Filled with rage, Ranma didn't bother to think of the concequences as he extended both hands forward and shouted, "Revised Seppukku Mouko Takabisha!" But this time, it was a totally different from the seppukku blasts Ranma dared to use. A sphere of energy didn't erupt from his extended hands. No. It wasn't a sphere of energy. What shot out was this massive beam of rage and hatred and depression. Saffron, only seeing the front portion of the blast, simply floated off slightly to his right to allow the ki-blast to miss him and shoot right pass. But Ranma, seeing Saffron move off to his right, pivoted his body slightly to the left as the beam of energy caught Saffron totally off guard as he was consumed in the blast.  
"I'll kill you!" Ranma shouted as he pulled his hand back and began a mad sprint in Saffron's direction. Before the end of the beam passed Saffron, Ranma leaped up up into the air straight at him. The shear force of Ranma kicking out caused a massive crater to be formed beneath his feet right before they left the ground, sending Ranma rocketing toward Saffron at near super sonic speeds.  
"Enough!" an unscathed Saffron sneered as he extended a hand toward Ranma's incoming form and shot a massive fireball right at Ranma's chest. Ranma's seeing that he was not going to make it to Saffron in time, crossed his arms over his front just as the fireball hit him.  
The projectile exploded on Ranma's chest, the explosion so powerful that it caused all the windows of every building within a one mile radius to shatter due to the vibations. The blast sent him right back down toward the ground below. Ranma slammed back into yet another building, that building too collapsing. But this time, since Ranma was above the ground floor when he hit the building, he ended getting shot through the other end, into yet another buidling, causing heavy damage to it and himself.  
"You will not defeat me!" Saffron sneered. He crossed his arms downward, his fists pointing at his feet as his aura flared up a brilliant glow. A moment later, he extended his hands forward and released a massive fireball. It hung suspended in the air for several moment. A hum could be heard emanating from it as the heat withing the fireball grew more intense.  
Just as Ranma finally managed to free himself from the debris, he looked up and saw the fireball. "Oh shit!" Ranma muttered as he quickly ran toward his immediate left.  
The fireball shot forward, rocketing through the air at an intense speed and struck the pile of debris Ranma had been once buried underneath. Before it even struck the pile of rubble, the rocks were incinerated.  
Ranma cried out in pain as he felt the shear heat from being within suck close proximity of it the blast as he lept into the air at the very last moment. He could feel the skin of his back melting under the intense heat. He rolled to his feet and faced Saffron.  
"How's your back?" Saffron teased Ranma, trying to make Ranma angry. Although when Ranma had gone beserk a moment ago, Saffron had been a bit surprised at the surge of pure rage and energy flying right toward him in the form of Ranma, but he had quickly turned the tables on the pigtailed man.  
Ranma winced in pain as bolts of pain shot through his back. Luckily for him, the pain lasted for only several excruciating moment for the Angel part of him seemed to have regenerative capabilities akin to EVAs. Damn, Ranma thought. How the hell am I gonna be able to beat him? I'm at such a huge disadvantage! Saffron floated forward and extended his hand high into the sky. A second later something that looked like a white disc appeared just above it. He smirked, making sure Ranma got a good look at him before he threw the disc right at him.  
Ranma was forced to leap out of the way, rolling back onto his feet. The disc sliced through several buildings before it arced up toward the sky and disappeared somewhere beyond the clouds.  
He's too damn powerful, Ranma though. I can't get near him. It's suicide if I try and charge him. I can't fight him with ki-blasts because it doesn't seem to affect him in anyway. He took my seppukku blast and didn't even flinch! I beat him last time by freezing him, but how the hell am I going to go about find a way to freeze him? I need some time!  
"Don't think about running away, Ranma!" Saffron said, "If you do, I will go about destroying every building until you show your face,"  
Ranma was silent. Shit, he thought. What the hell am I going to do? I have to at least get him away from Tokyo. Waitaminute, I'm part Angel. My back doesn't hurt anymore. I must be able to regenerate like an EVA. I remember Shinji saying his Unit-01 once regenerated a severed arm from an Angel...I have to give it a try. It's the only plan I've got.  
Ranma shot a ki-blast in Saffron's general direction, knowing that Saffron would dodge it. He was shocked to see Saffron knock it away with a casual swat of his arm. The blast was sent into a nearby building, blowing the entire top half off, debris falling down to the streets below.  
"Your blasts are pathetic," Saffron said wryly, "Is that supposed to hurt me?"  
Ranma gritted his teeth. He was having problems goading Saffron into doing what he wants. Saffron shot a fireball at Ranma. Hoping he was making the right choice, crossed his hand in front of himself and accepted the blast directly. He was blown bodily backwards into a nearby building, blowing out the back of it and coming to a halt inside of the building behind that one.  
Ranma winced in pain as he held his side "Aw shit. That hurts," he mutter, "He's a goddamn monster. I'd rather fight Taro and Herb at the same time than him..." He got up to his feet and walked back on into the streets.  
At Nerv Headquarters, Misato started at the screen. "I don't know what the hell is going on," Maya said, "But I'm getting two massive power readings that's through the roof! It appeared there!"  
Misato asked, "Is it an Angel?" She had been busy conduction the two children's synchro tests when she was called to the control room.  
Maya looked at the screen and then nodded, "Yes. This like no Angel I have ever seen before!"  
"What do you mean?"  
"It's bother pattern blue and pattern organe!" Maya quickly replied.  
"It's Ranma," Gendo said, his hands steepled in front on him as he sat in his chair.  
The control room was bathed in a red light as an alarm echoed.  
"What's going on?" Misato shouted above the drone of the alarm.  
"U-unit-01...i-it's moving!" Maya replied, her eyes wide. "I-it's moving on its own!"  
"What the hell's going on here! Is it Ranma? It has to be him! Toji is still unconsious!" Ritsuko said, silent until now.  
Makoto swivled around in his chair and said, "It has to be him that's doing this. There's no one piloting the EVA,"  
"Where the hell are Hikari and Kensuke?" Misato asked.  
"Still in school,"  
"Well get them down here, pronto!"  
Saffron was still hovering in there air.  
"Hey, I why dontcha come down here and fight me?" Ranma taunted, "I betcha without your wings, you're nothing!" He finally thought of a plan into goading Saffron into doing what Ranma wanted him to do.  
Saffron, annoyed with Ranma and his stubborness to stay alive, said, "I don't need my wings. Here's a little demonstration," He ripped the wings off his back and threw both wings at one hundred and eighty degrees from his body. The wings proceeded to slice right through every building in its path and slowly arc its way toward the target where both wings would hit their target from both sides.  
Ranma stood in the middle of the street, waiting patiently for the wings. He watched as both of the wings sliced through building after building, the buildings crumbling one after another as the wings wrecked havoc to the entire city of Tokyo. At the last moment, he anticipated which one of the buildings one of the wings would emerged from and dashed toward it. He then lept up into the air and actually caught one of the wings just as it emerged from the anticipated building.  
With a hand holding one of the wings tightly, Ranma twisted in mid-  
air and caught the other wing just as it slammed into his chest. He cried out in pain as the the impact of the wing hitting him send him spiraling into an already badly damaged building.  
Saffron's eyes narrowed. What is that red ripple I see just moments before one of my projectiles hit him. It seemed to have saved his life several times already.  
The top half of Ranma's body emerged from the opening that he had created upon impact. There was blood flowing from his lips, a smirk on his lips. He hopped back out the building and down to the ground below as Saffron watched him curiously.  
"You just made yourself a mistake, Saffron," Ranma sneered, wiping the blood from his lips and actually smirking. "You may be tougher, but you're still as gullible as when I last defeated you,"  
Saffron said nothing. He had no idea what Ranma was talking about. Was he trying to stall for time?  
Ranma walked forward toward Saffron as he continued to float high in the air. "Watsamatter, Saffron? Are you scared?"  
Saffron laughed. "I see you're trying to stall for time. It doesn't bother me. Every second you waste, I get stronger."  
Ranma smirked, "Thank you for the wings, Saffy-chan."  
He holding one wing in either hand, he pressed the wings against his back and smiled. A second later, he removed his hand but the wings stayed in place.  
"You see, Saffy-chan," Ranma said, "You have made the same mistake as our last battle. You underestimated me and my ability to adapt," He look over his back at his wings. A moment later, he started flapping his wings, "And over the years, I have learned to adapt to many things that adapting comes easy to me. This is no exception."  
Saffron closed his eyes and said some words Ranma couldn't make out. A second later, two wings emerged from his back, taking place of the two previous wings he had just thrown and lost. He smiled, "It doesn't matter to me. I will still defeat you. Even with wings, you're nothing to me,"  
Ranma chuckled, his confidence level rising. Now he wasn't at such a disadvantage "I guess now I am truly and Angel. Remember what I said that you have no idea who you're messing with? We'll now you're going to find out!"  
Saffron smirked, "Ranma, you and I are a lot alike, more than you know. But I am the superior being and you will lose,"  
He looked back at his wings, "Shit, how the hell do you flap these things?" He looked at Saffron and then back at the wings, "C'mon, work!"  
Saffron stared at Ranma for a moment. A second later he burst out laughing.  
Ranma's eyes narrowed. "Heh, gotcha!" He ran forward and lept into the air and rocketed toward Saffron as he continued laughing. He was shocked when he realized Saffron had been faking it also.  
"No, I have you!" Saffron said as he held two hands in front of him and shot a fireball right into Ranma's chest.  
Ranma cried out in pain as the blast erupted on his chest full blast, sending him bodily back down to the ground below. He hit the ground as such an impact that he became slightly imbedded in it. He lay there on his back, motionless, blood trickling down the side of his face and onto his already blood and singed clothes. It took him a moment before he was able to sit up. When he did, Ranma groaned in pain. His entire body was aching. He couldn't believe how big a mistake he was. He was the one who had been underestimating Saffron all this time. It hadn't been the other way around.  
He slowly got back up to his feet. Saffron couldn't understand why he kept seeing that red energy field constantly appearing in front of Ranma just moment's before he was hit with a projectile. Why was that? How come Ranma wasn't dying? Every single one of those blasts had been more powerful enough to kill him, yet he remained alive, even conscious for that matter.  
Ranma looked up at Saffron, "You're an asshole!" was all he could think of.  
Saffron smirked, "So? Is that supposed to anger me?"  
Ranma flipped Saffron the middle finger, "I can't believe he have no regard for human life around here! They have nothing to do with the battle!" He looked around. There were countless amounts of human bodies and remains scattered about. Ranma's eyes widened when he saw the dead body of a small child. "Oh my god!"  
"That is what puts you at a severe disadvantage," Saffron retorted with a wry grin, "I don't care about human lives and who I kill. After this battle, I will kill off the human race of this world,"  
"How the fuck can you be so goddamn cold! This was a child!" Ranma shouted back, tears almost forming. "You were a child too!"  
"Yes," Saffron said, "Twice as a matter of fact because of you!"  
Ranma gritted his teeth, "Saffron, you're definitely going to pay for all of this. And I will be the one to pay it back, tenfold. I promise!"  
Saffron shot a fireball at a nearby building, destroying it. Everyone inside were either killed or buried alive "I'd like to see you try!" he said evily.  
Ranma's aura flared a terriffic shade of yellow as he went into yet another rage. "You goddamn monster!" His wings expanded and brought him into the sky high enough so he was at the same altitude as Saffron.  
Saffron shot another fireball at a neaby building, but Ranma quickly swooped down in front of the projectile and let it explode up against his body. He was sent backwards into the building. The difference was that the building only got damaged, not destroyed.  
Inside the building, Ranma groaned in pain. But for some reason, the pain wasn't as intense. He brought an arm in front of him and watched as the singed skin on his forearm beginning to regenerate. He smiled. So, my regeneration process seems to increase as time passes, he thought. I saw red glow in front of me before, what the hell was that? Could it be some AT field?  
"Perhaps the AT field is protecting me..." Ranma said. "And the AT field seems to be getting stronger after repelling every attack...or perhaps buffering the blast." After a moment, Ranma realized something, "After a while, he's blast won't hurt me anymore because my AT field is constantly getting stronger,"  
Saffron had been waiting patiently for Ranma to emerge. When he did, something didn't add up. Ranma was smiling. It looked like he was up to something but Saffron couldn't tell what.  
Saffron smirked. He shot a fireball at Ranma.  
Ranma just remained hovering in place. When the fireball shot right toward him, Ranma screamed and simply swatted the fireball away, sending it spiraling up into the clear sky. That seemed to actually shock Saffron.  
"W-what the?"  
Ranma grinned, "You're fucked, Saffron!" He hovered forward toward his opponent, swatting away yet another ki projectile. "Now you're the one at a severe disadvantage. All you know is some kinda firebased attack! Conventional attacks don't seem to hurt me much anymore. Somehow, I have adapted to them. So, in short, you're fucked! I guess I won't be needing help, afterall,"  
Saffron, hovered backwards and let his aura flare. "Let's find out how well you do against an unconvential attack, then," he said wryly, right before releasing a fireball and letting it hover there for a short moment before it shot forward and struck the shocked Ranma full blast.  
Ranma was sent flying bodily back down to the terra firma below, causing a crater over ten meters wide from the impact.  
"You caught me by suprise with the suicidal stunt you pulled," Saffron smirked. "But, I'm not worried. I haven't even used a fraction the potential power I am capable of. It seems that red shield constantly protecting you doesn't work against intangible attacks,"  
Ranma got back up and stared up at his opponent. "Damnit, I can't get near him!" he muttered. He placed a hand on his shoulder. It was dislocated. Gritting his teeth, he snapped it back into its socket and cried out in pain. "Argh!" Tears started falling from his eyes as the pain registered.  
"Where the hell is it?" he muttered to himself. "There was no way I could last much longer!" He slowly got to his feet, blood now flowling freely from his mouth.  
Back at Nerv Headquarters, everyone is in a mad panic at Unit-01's sudden activation.  
"Where is it going?" Ritsuko asked. She watched the screen as it it send back readings of Unit-01's current location. It showed that Unit-01 was currently making its way up one of the launch shafts.  
"Is the children on their way here?" Misato asked.  
Maya said, "They're on their way. They will be here in a few minutes."  
"All right, ready Unti-00 and Unit-02 for launch! We have to stop Unit-01 from where ever its headed!" Misato said, trying to keep calm. Deep down inside, she was a wreck. "What about the readings? Is the power readings still there?"  
Maya looked at the screen and nodded, "Yes. It's growing exponentially," All of a sudden a part of her console exploded. She shrieked as she fell out of her seat and onto the ground. Makoto was the first one to react to the situation and quickly grabbed a fire extinquisher and put out the fire.  
"It might be Ranma if the MAGI reads both patterns." Ritsuko said, "Afterall, Ranma's part Angel if not completely"  
Gendo was silent as he watched the screen. He didn't like this one bit.  
Ranma stared up at Saffron, gritting his teeth. He needed Unit-01's help and fast.  
He flew back up into the air and hovered there for several moment was Saffron eyed him critically. He had to buy some time while Unit-01 got here. Not wanting anyone else to get hurt, Ranma flew higher up into the air, knowing that Saffron's ki-blasts and projectiles would hit no structures if they missed.  
While up high in the air, he caught sight of Unit-01 as it now slowly made its way through the city streets.  
"We seem to be at a stalemate, Saffron," Ranma sneered, "Your fireball attacks have little effect on me. And special attack, they're too slow to actually hit me. The one just just hit me with, I wasn't anticipating that attack. You caught me off guard, that's all. I won't let you do that to me again."  
Saffron laughed. "You really think that? You're sorely mistaken. My fireballs do have an effect on you. See for yourself," He extended a hand forward and shot massive fireball in Ranma's direction. The blast was so large that there was no way for Ranma to move out of the way.  
Ranma crossed both his hands and even his wings in front of his body just as the blast hit him. Saffron smiled as he watched Ranma enveloped completely in the blast. He grinned as he watched Ranma's battered body fall from the skies, hitting the floor, a pool for blood forming around him and slowly growing in size.  
Ranma, in excruciating pain, tried to get up but couldn't. He couldn't move anymore. He was on his back, both of his arms dislocated from the impact, one of them broken in several places. His legs were both broken from the impact of his fall and a bone was jutting out of the skin of his right leg. And above that, the retinas of his eyes had been badly damaged from the blinding light. All he could see was darkness.  
It didn't really matter to Ranma anymore. He couldn't fight anymore. He welcomed the darkness. A tear fell from his eyes, mixed in with the blood from his mouth, as he realized he had failed. He closed his blind eyes and waited to for death to bestow him. Saffron hovered over Ranma's motionless form and extended a hand forward. "Like I said, Ranma. You're sorely mistaken. I have been holding back all this time while you fought me with every once of energy you had. I haven't even begun to use the power I am capable of. You're pathetic. And I have been expecting you to actually put up a fight. Well, this is where it ends, Ranma. Sayonora..."  
He extended a forward and shot a fireball equal in power as the prior one. The blast struck Ranma's unconsious form. If he had been consious, Ranma would have probably tried to have cried out in pain except nothing would come out of his mouth except blood for his lungs were filled with it.  
Unit-01 screamed in rage, like a mother seeing her child killed. Buildings surrounding it crumbled as if an invisible sphere seemed to expand out from its body.  
"W-what the?" Saffron said, hovering backwards quite a distance as he caught sight of the screaming EVA. He had never seen something like that. It was huge and was nearly as tall as most of the buildings. Its eyes was burning red with rage.  
He continued to back away, floating higher up into the sky so he would be looking down at the raging monster.  
Unit-01 charged at Saffron and lept into the air. Surrounding buildings in Tokyo seemed to get heavily damaged from the drag the running and EVA created. In a state of panic at the sight of the charging monster, Saffron shot a massive fireball in front of him. It hovered there for a split second before it shot forward at Unit-01. Unfortunately, in his state of panic, Saffron's aim wasn't as precise as the fireball skimmed right above and passed Unit-01's right shoulder, destroying the compartment that housed the progressive knife.  
Saffron shot another right into Unit-01's chest, destroying the armor and reveling the EVA's core, right before Unit-01 enclosed its hands around him. Saffron cried out in pain as he felt his arms break from the shear pressure as Unit-01's gripped tightened, only to scream again when he realized he couldn't move and was now falling straight down toward the ground below, Unit-01 above him, falling down with him.  
Unit-01 opened its hand just a moments before impact with the ground, its open palm slamming into Saffron as Saffron hit the ground. When it pulled its hand back, a massive palm print could be seen embedded in the concreted ground. And in the middle of that palm print, sprawled out on his back was Saffron, a shocked look on his face.  
Unit-01 made a fist and cocked its arm back and brough its arm back down on Saffron with such speed that a loud boom resonated throughout the city as the speed of Unit-01's punch broke the sound barrier. The fist crashed down right on Saffron, Unit-01's arm getting embedded into the ground all the way up to its elbow. With its hand deep underground, Unit-01 opened its hand and grabbed onto Saffron and pulled him back out.  
Unit-01 didn't even bother to see if Saffron was dead or not as it slammed him back down on the ground headfirst and proceeded run forward while Saffron was still partially embedded in the ground, as if it was using Saffron's body to scrape some invisible paint off the concrete ground. It continued to run, scraping Saffron on the ground, for several miles, not even stopping when it reached the city outskirts. Not even the mountain stood in its path as Unit-01 continued to hold Saffron against the ground, running up and back down the mountain, continuing on toward the run toward the waters just several miles ahead of it.  
Unit-01 didn't even stop at the ocean. When it reached the shoreline, it jumped up into the air and landed in the water several hundred meters out to shore and slowly started to sink to the bottom. When its feet touched the bottom, it proceeded to scrap what remained of Saffron against the ocean floor as it made its way out to vast open ocean. Unit-00 and Unit-02, which had been following closely behind Unit-01, stopped at the shoreline.  
"What's going on?" Hikari asked from inside her Unit-00. "Y-you want us to go after that? What about our power umbillical? There's not much more of it left? Who the hell's piloting it? Isn't Toji still in that coma?"  
"No, don't bother following it. We'll track its movements. And, um, Unit-01 seemed to have gone beserk," Misato said. I've got to have a chat with Ranma, she thought. He's got some explaining to do if this was his doing. "Hikari, Kensuke, the both of you go back to where we've gotten those power readings. I want you there on standby in case anything happens,"  
"Yes," the two children said in unison.  
Unit-00 and Unit-02 turned around and headed back toward the area where they had witnesses Unit-01's wings emerge. Hikari notices a trail on the ground leading direction toward there, "What's with the trail? What was Unit-01 scrapping on the ground when we were following closely behind?"  
"We don't know. That's what we'd like to know."  
Hikari and Kensuke made it back to the location after several minutes of sprinting. When they made it there, they finally had a chance to survey the situation. "Oh my god, what the hell happened here?" Kensuke asked looking around at all the destruction, "It looks like a miniature N2 mine blew up here. Jeez..."  
"What are we looking for?" Hikari said. She felt a bit sick. She could see the streets soaked with blood that flowed from several nearby crumbled buildings. She wondered how gross it would be if she vomitted in her cockpit. The thought of seeing her vomit floating in front of her in the LCL didn't seem at all appealing.  
"We don't know," Misato said, "Look for anything unusual."  
"Holy shit!" Kensuke's voice could be heard. He was staring down at his school teacher which was sprawled out in the middle of a massive crater. Misato looked at the screen and saw Ranma through Unit-02's eyes. Everyong in the control room gasped at the sight of Ranma. They could seen Ranma's wings protruding from his sides. "Are those wings?" Ritsuko asked.  
Gendo sat up, "Hikari, Kensuke, pick Ranma up and bring him with you,"  
"But-"  
"Now!" Gendo said, "Rip a partion in the ground if you have to! Get him to Nerv Headquarters now!"  
"Um, yes sir," Hikari said. She looked down at her teacher. Why does Ikari-san want him, she thought. She maneuvered Unit-00 forward and had it dart its fingers into the ground, ripping the ground up as Ranma lay motionless on the removed partition of the street.  
"Get him back to Nerv on the double!" Gendo said. Everyone just looked at him, curious as to what had gotten over him.  
"Yes sir."

Although Ranma had been seriously injured during his battle with Saffron, he came out of his coma about a week later, almost totally healed. During those days when Ranma lingered in unconsiousness, Nerv had kept track of Unit-01's movements even while it was underwater. For several days, Unit-01 proceeded south, all the way to Antarctica. What it was exactly doing heading toward Antarctica, no one knew. Shortly after that, while still underwater, it made its way all the way back north to Japan, reappearing by the shoreline several days later, a massive layer of filth and seaweed covering all over its body.  
Nerv reported this as a freak accident, that Unit-01 went beserk. Unit-01 was frozen from further activity or operations, people no longer wanting it to go beserk yet again.  
When Ranma had awoken from his coma, he was asked a series of questions, all asked by by people who had been in the control room on that day. No one seemed to be aware of Ranma's involvement with the incident.  
He told them about everything that he remembered, about how shocked he had been when he saw Saffron for the first time after so many years, about his battle with him when he had been young and the recent battle.  
He told them how he had summoned for Unit-01's help but didn't know much after that. That was when he was told about Unit-01 being seen running toward the shoreline, scrapping something against the ground along its way.  
"I assume that it was doing that to Saffron," Ranma commented.  
"I guess so," Ritsuko said. She then went on and told him that Unit-01 travelled all the way to Antarctica and then coming back.  
"Oh, I get it. Saffron is like a human pheonix," Ranma said, "Because he was brought to the South Pole, he would die from the cold because he relies on heat,"  
Ranma smiled, glad that Saffron way no more.

"This is all starting to make sense!" Ranma shouted, juping up out of his seat, raising his arms in triumph, scaring everyone nearly to death at his sudden movements and shout. It had been several weeks since Ranma and Saffron's fight.  
"What? What's starting to make sense?" Misato asked. She and Ranma and the others were in some kind of committee room. They had been there talking about what they were going to do. There was only one Angel remaining, but he hadn't shown up yet. Not even after several weeks had passed. Everyone was busy talking, wondering why Ranma's prediction of Kaworu arriving hasn't taken place yet. Ranma had remained silent the whole time, deep in thought.  
"Why Kaworu hasn't shown up yet!" Ranma said in glee, "I finally figured it out!"  
"Tell us," Ritsuko asked, leaning forward, her hands steepled like Gendo's. She and Misato and Maya had been talking the most, trying to come up with explanations and theories the Kaworu's late arrival. All of them lead to no where.  
"I know why Kaworu hasn't shown up yet!" Ranma said gleefully, "That's because he's already showed up! We just didn't know it!"  
"What? You mean he's already here?" Misato shouted, getting up from her seat, a shocked look on her face.  
Ranma held his hands up, "Calm down, Misato. It's not like that. I'll exaplain everything. Just hear me out. It make perfect sense,"  
Misato sat down after a moment, "Go on. We're all listening,"  
Ranma proceeded to walk pace back and forth, "Remember how I kept telling you that the next Angel will come in the form of a human? That boy I called Kaworu? Well, he did come, we just didn't even realize it. You remembered that time you found me lying in the middle of the street unconsious? And do you remember what I've told you, on why I was there?"  
Maya answered first, "Yes. You said a person named Saffron from your own world came to this world seeking to kill you," Even though what Ranma had told her about that Saffron person sounded far-fetched, when she thought about her world fighting messengers of God, it didn't sound so unbelieveable.  
Ranma nodded, "Yes. But it turns out...that person that nearly killed me wasn't Saffron. He was the Kaworu Angel I've been expecting! He just came in the form of my enemy! All this time I believed it was Saffron but it really wasn't!"  
"Can you please run that by me again?" Naoko asked. She didn't really belong here because she was mostly in charge of maintaining MAGI, but since she had been around when Ranma appeared, Gendo didn't seem to mind letting her in on everything.  
"Remember that reading you got by that area you found me? What were the patterns?" Ranma asked to anyone.  
"There were two patterns, blue and orange," Maya said.  
"Yes. That confirms that he was the Kaworu Angel." Ranma said, "You see I'm part Angel, and I guess when I went beserk, the Angel part of me took over. That's why the pattern came out blue instead of orange. Saffron, he remained calm the entire time, that's why it stayed orange. Remember that if MAGI tries and read me, the pattern comes out orange even though its definitely supposed to be blue? Well, the same thing goes for Saffron! He's just like me! That's why you thought he was human, because he was the person born from the disappeared Unit-04! That's why you can't read him...just like how you can't read me!"  
The entire room was dead silent as everyone continued to listen.  
Ranma continued on, "Saffron attacked me only days after the sixteenth Angel...just around the time when that Kaworu Angel was expected to arrive! Remember the times Unit-01 went beserk, even when I wasn't here? Unit-01 went beserk in the presence of an Angel! And since Saffron was the seventeenth Angel...I guess there was no way of fooling an Evangelion, ne?"  
Ranma paused a moment to let everything sink in. He continued on, "I can even explain why the seventeenth Angel came in that form. Rember the fifteenth Angel, when my mind was probed? That's how Saffron seemed to know my past, my friends, and my battle with the real Saffron. It seems the information that had been pulled from my mind was used against me, and that was why the seventeenth Angel was Saffron...or at least the Saffron look-a-like. Somehow, whoever, perhaps God, that had sent that Angel, realized that having that Angel come in the form of Saffron would mentally screw me up because God knows that Saffron almost defeated me. On the other world, Kaworu liked Shinji. Asuka's mind was probed. Perhaps she liked Shinji and that's why Kaworu liked him also. Anyway, At first, I didn't notice it because I was so mad at what he was doing, but there were things he said that, after thinking about it, explained who he was. When I was fighting him, he told me that he and I were a lot a like? Guess what he means by that?"  
"That you are both Angels!" Misato said.  
"Correct!" Ranma said, snapping his fingers for emphasis, "I thought what he meant by that was that we were both fighters that have special powers. Also, above that, he said that after he killed me, he would wipe out human race! I thought it was his form of vengence toward me, to make me think I'm the cause of everyone getting killed, but in reality, it was his goal to do so! All that he told me, about how he got here, through killing Ryoga, it was a lie. It seems the seventeenth Angel was a bit too much like Saffron that it chose to kill me first before attacking Nerv, a rather fatal mistake. Another thing was how I managed to take in his wings. I didn't think of it at first-"  
"You don't seem to think of much at first, acting before thinking," Misto added with a smirk.  
Ranma ignored her and said, "I didn't think of it at first but remember that incident with that really powerful Angel...the forteenth Angel I think? Well didn't Unit-01 lose an arm and then regererate it back using that Angel's...whatever...its arms. The same thing happened with me. Since Saffron was an Angel, I was able to, in a way, take in some aspects that he had...like Unit-01 the S2 thingie."  
"It's organ! Not thingie!" Ritsuko said, annoyed.  
"Yeah, organ, whatever. You know what I mean," Ranma replied. "Anyway, it's just fortunately that human part of that Angel compelled him to attack and kill me first instead of infiltrating Nerv."  
"That seems to make sense," Gendo commented. "Perhaps the seventeenth Angel was almost too human,"  
"Human to a fault is more like it," Maya commented.  
"There's more," Ranma said, "I have more good news. This is so convenient. Remember how I mention that on the other world, shortly after final Angel was discovered and killed, that Nerv was attacked? How come we haven't been attacked? You wanna know why? Because the people that sent us the supposed final Angel, believes they sent us the sixteenth Angel!"  
"What? How?" Ritsuko asked.  
"Ritsuko, when I was talkin' with you and Misato out on that helicopter landing pad, you mentioned that there were three Angels left." Ranma said, "When I went to Gendo, he said that there were four. It didn't make sense but then, aftera short while, he told me that that computer virus Angel had never been put down on the record. Dontcha get it? No one really knows about that Angel. That means when the, say, forteenth Angel attack, everyone believed it was only the thirteenth! Seele has no idea that all the Angels have been defeated! They're still expecting one more Angel to attack!"  
"Seele? What do they have to do with this?" Misato asked. "I remember you saying something about them a while back,"  
Ranma looked at Gendo and then said, "Gendo, I think it's about time you tell them...about everything,"  
Gendo looked at Ranma.  
"If you don't tell them, I will,"  
Gendo sighed. Aftera short while, he proceeded to tell them everything, about the N2 mines, about the Human Compliment Project, everything.  
"Oh my god!" Naoko commented, shocked. She couldn't believe there were so many hidden agendas underlying Nerv. "Seele's been the one in control of Nerv the whole time?"  
Gendo nodded, "Yes,"  
Ranma smirked, "Don't worry, I've got a plan! A great one!"  
"Tell us," Misato said.  
"No duh," Ranma said, "Of course I'm gonna tell you. How else will it work if no one knows about it? Jeez."  
Misato glared at Ranma, getting a bit angry.  
Ranma ignored her and said, "Since the people at Seele are waiting for the seventeenth Angel to attack, let's give that to them!"  
"How?" Ritsuko asked, really confused.  
"Well, no one really knows about me," Ranma answered patiently, "I will act as the expected seventeenth."  
"You've gotta be crazy! Either that or stupid?" Misato and Ritsuko seemed to shout at the same time.  
Ranma shook his head, "Crazy? Yes. Stupid? No. This plan can work. Besides, it's the best plan we've got. Heck, it's the only one. Gendo knows the exact location of those seven N2 mines are located. But, since he can't really get near them without anyone, especially Seele, from noticing, he can't do anything about it. But, what if we provide some kinda smoke screen? The smoke screen will be me as I fight Unit-00 and Unit-02 throughout the city. Of course, probably billions and billions of yen in damages will be created, but that's only a small price to pay for this town's safety. Anyway, while in battle, I will slowly make my way to each and every N2 mine location. Since everyone thinks its an Angel battle, no one will know the true underlying factor to the fight."  
"Yes! And during the fight, you secretly remove the N2 mine from the ground!" Gendo said, "No one will suspect a thing!"  
"Yes, after all mines are removed, then the city is no longer in danger and you can expose Seele to the world!" Ranma said with a smirk. "And Seele will be unable to do a single thing about it except simply disappear into the night,"  
"You can get killed!" Misato said.  
Ranma paused for a moment before saying, "Yes, I can. But that's a risk I'm willing to take. On more than one occasion have I risked everything on saving others. That's just what I do. Heck, I was supposed to have died a long time ago, even before I accidentally ended up on your other world. But, I don't have much to worry about. I can control Unit-01. As an Angel, I'll pretend I've taken over the EVA. I'll just have Unit-01 repel the other EVAs attacks."  
"Oh yes, you can command Unit-01. I totally forgot about that. Its AT field is pretty much indestructible so you will be protected at all times. God, that's brilliant!" Ritsuko said. "That's a brilliant plan!"  
"Speaking of AT fields, I remember seeing Saffron lookin' at me curiously, like he had never seen an AT field before," Ranma said, scratching the back of his head, "But if he's an Angel, I wonder he he couldn't know about it?"  
"Perhaps Angel's don't even know that they...or other Angel's possess AT fields," Ritsuko said.  
"I wonder why I didn't see an AT field on him? If I'm an Angel, and he's an Angel, and I have an AT filed...then so should he. Wait, perhaps Saffron's AT field was being used in his attacks. That's why they managed to hurt me, because they weakened my own AT field because it would almost neutralize my own,"  
Maya smiled, "You seem to come up with some very plausible theories, Ranma."  
"Yeah, I'm so brilliant that I scare myself sometimes," he said with a smirk.  
"Dontcha mean to use the word arrogant instead?" Misato commented wryly.  
Everyone burst out in laughter.

Ranma stood was in the control room. He and everyone was going over the final plans.  
"Have the buildings been evacuated?" Ranma asked.  
Misato nodded as she said, "Yes. All I did was make several annonymous phonecalls and told the bomb squad that several buildings where targetted for terrorism. They've been evacuated as planned,"  
"Good,"  
"Okay, so you know where the N2 mines are?" Misato asked.  
Ranma nodded, "Yes." He placed a tiny ear piece in his eat and added, "It wouldn't matter all that much. If I forget, you can simply communicate it to me. Soon after I begin my attack, I'll command Unit-01 to supposedly come to my rescue. Make sure Unit-01 is restrained. That way, it won't look like you simply allowed it to escape after it goes beserk,"  
"Are you sure you don't want the children in on this?" Ritsuko asked.  
Ranma shook his head, "I want this fight to look as real as possible. Heck, I wanna make you actually think I'm an Angel. That's how real I want it. Keep in mind that someone could be secretly monitoring the transmissions between the control room and the EVAs. This is where it gets risky. It has to seem like a real fight. Even if I get hurt, I don't want you telling Hikari and Kensuke to stop."  
Misato hesitated for a moment before she said, "Um, all right. You have my word. Um, w-what do you plan on doing after this? After all of this is over?"  
"No need to count your chickens before they hatch," Ranma said, "There is a chance I might die out there. Also, even if I suceed in getting rid of `em N2 mines, we still have one more barrage of attacks left. But, let's just say that I do succeed in carrying out my plans, I plan on going back home,"  
"So we'll never see you again?"  
Ranma nodded, "That's right. As soon as I...or should I say Unit-01 gets all off the N2 mines, I'm going to make a break for China using Unit-01. By the time I get back here one last time, Seele should realize what you guys had done and will send those new EVA units to attack Nerv and get rid of the evidence that points toward their involvment. It'll only be a matter of time before they are finally exposed to the UN and the world. But in the meanwhile, we'll hafta defend ourselves from their attacks. Once they are exposed, I'm going back home for good. Once Seele has been exposed, and I'm gone, destroy the EVA units. Have `em self destruct. I don't know exactly how, but the EVAs play a key role in creating an Impact. I'm just not too sure how,"  
"Well, make sure you come home safely," Misato said with a soft smile.  
"I have every intention of doing that," Ranma said, "I plan on surviving all of this. I can't wait to get home? If I'm really the clone that Ritsuko makes me out to be, then I'm looking very forward to meeting my real self that has made it home," He took a deep breath, "All right. I'm ready to go. Is everything set? Is there anything I'm forgetting?"  
"We're all ready,"  
"All right, give me about ten minutes before you finally identify my presense as an Angel," Ranma said, "I need some time to get to the other side of town. Actually, give me fifteen minutes, I'm gonna go pay Toji a visit. He's been asleep for quite a while,"  
"You can wake him up when you get back," Ritsuko said.  
Ranma shook his head, "I'm gonna wake him up now. Just in case I don't come back."  
"You'll come back," Misato said.  
"Yes, hopefully,"  
Ranma flew through the streets of Tokyo, quickly making his way toward the location of the first N2 mine. He had a pattern laid out in his head on how he was going to go about retreiving the mine.  
It was night out and the stars could be seen clearly twinkling above, not that time really matter to Ranma anymore. His concept of time no longer pertained to him.  
He swooped down and stopped on the rooftop of a building located nearby the N2 mine's location. "God, I love these wings," he commented happily, "They're so cool. It's much more fun flying via the use of wings instead of Akane's foot back then when I was young,"  
Ranma took a deep breath. "All right, here goes nothing," he said. He closed his eyes and concentrated for a few moments. After a short while, a column of energy seemed to shoot out from his body as this yellow aura surrounded his body. "My fifteen minutes should be up around now and they should detect me at any moment,"  
When Ranma heard an alarm go on, which signified an emergency, he smiled, "All right. Let's get started,"  
And raised his arm forward and shot a massive ki-blast toward a building. The building exploded and crumbled to the ground in a heaping mess. Ranma smiled, grateful that that building was completely empty, having been evacuated because of a supposed bomb threat. After a short moment, he blew up yet another evacuated building.  
"The children are on their way, Ranma," he heard Misato's voice, "You're doing fine. It seems like an actual Angel attack,"  
Ranma smiled, "All right. I look forward to the fight,"

The battle between the Angel named `Ranma' and Unit-00 and Unit-02 was the hardest battle humankind had ever faced. Although both were skilled pilots, Hikari and Kensuke found themselves fighting for dear life and humankind's very existence as the Angel `Ranma' proceeded to push both EVAs to their very limit as they tried to avoid the `Ranma' Angel and its relentless and deadly attacks.  
Angel `Ranma', upon his first appearance near the outskirts of Tokyo, as it proceeded to destroy building after building with ease, was intercepted by Unit-00 and Unit-02 just a few short minutes after the pattern blue was detected by the MAGI.  
During the first phase of the battle, the `Ranma' Angel seemed to have an advantage over the young pilots as the pilots recognized its face and believed it to be the man they had saved. They hesitated in attacking at first, but that soon changed when the `Ranma' Angel proceeded to send wave after wave of high energy projectiles toward them, causing them to fend for their lives.  
It wasn't until Misato commanding them to destory the Angel did the young children finally fight back. When they did, the Angel found itself on the receiving end of countless and very well coordinated attacks. On several occasions, the `Ranma' Angel would have been destoryed if it weren't for its small and human-like structure which helped it dodge countless attacks that the EVAs had made toward it with their progressive knives.  
The tables soon changed once again as the `Ranma' Angel shocked both children pilots as Unit-01 appeared from out of nowhere and seeing the Angel fly and land on its shoulder. For some reason, the children could have sworn they have seen the Angel actually smile as they stood there, shocked at the sudden turn of events.  
Hikari and Kensuke found themselves battling for life and limb as they stood on the defensive ends of Unit-01's punches and the `Ranma' Angel's devestatingly powerful projectiles. Both pilots found themselves constantly back up, wishing the attacks would relent, much to no avail.  
About ten minutes after the battle had begun, Kensuke found his Unit-  
02 being choked by the possessed Unit-01, only to find himself being thrown to the ground just seconds later and being scrapped against the ground as Unit-01 held hi EVA pinned to the ground and then proceeding to run forward, toward the heart of the city, ramming it even through buildings.  
Hikari found her EVA nowhere near as powerful as Unit-01 as she maneuver EVA in to grab it from behind, only to find herself thrown through the air, landing quite a distance away. When she managed to get up, she caught sight of Unit-01 through Kensuke's EVA off toward the distance and charging toward her, shoulder ramming her to the ground and mounting her where she soon founder herself desperately trying to fight off Unit-01's attack. Although she couldn't understand why, while she had been unable to move her EVA, Unit-01 punched and missed the head completely, its arms crashing into the ground all the way down to the elbow. After it pulled its arm back out, it proceeded to punch her EVA again, not missing a beat.  
After a short while, Unit-01 seemd to grow bored of punching her and got off her, picking her up and throwing her bodily though the air, coming to a sliding halt a short distance away. When she managed to get up again, she saw Unit-01 charging across the streets and shoulder ramming a disoriented Kensuke, knocking him to the ground, mounting him also and proceeding to rain punches down again, also missing a single punch and sending a fist crashing into the ground all the way up to the elbow.  
Just moments after that, Unit-01 seemed to have gotten bored again and picked up Unit-02 and threw it and Kensuke in it, through the air, the EVA hitting the ground a short distance away. Hikari screamed in fright as she soon realized Unit-01 was charging toward her. In her moment of panic, she brough her progressive knife forward just as Unit-01 ran right into it.  
Unfortunately for her, it didn't seem to faze it as Unit-01 knocked her to the ground again and rained down punches on her EVA, missing her head once again with a powerful punch, only to pick her up again moments later and chucking her through the air and then going after Kensuke. There was a definite pattern Unit-01 was using on both children, but Hikari and Kensuke found themselves unable to do anything about it. The battle raged on for close to fifteen excruciating minutes before something seemd to happen. After the battle raged throughout the entire city, Kensuke and Hikari on the reciving end of countless attacks, Unit-01 stopped its attack. What shocked them both was when Unit-01 incorporated strategy as it walked over to both of their EVAs and the `Ranma' Angel that was standing on its shoulder shot out two projectiles, each projectile severing their umbillical cable.  
With only five minutes left, Kensuke and Hikari found themselve at a most awkward situation. As if getting wrecked by a omnipotent Unit-01 wasn't enough. Every time they tried to make their way toward a nearby power supply building, Unit-01 would simply kick out their EVAs' legs, sending them crashing to the ground.  
By the time both EVAs ran out of power, Kensuke and Hikari knew this was the end, that they would never be able to defeat the Angel now. It was just too damn powerful. They screamed and pleaded for their EVAs to move, or perhaps go beserk like they had seen a Toji piloted Unit-01 do on a few occasions, but it never happened. When their cockpits went totally black and silent. They waited for death to descend upon them. But that never came. As they waited for Unit-01 to rip their EVAs apart limb by limb, something happened. They found themselves being moved from within the EVA. It took Kensuke several moments before he realized that his entry plug was somehow being removed from Unit-02. When the hatch opened, he had the most shocked expression as he gazed at the `Ranma' Angel face to face.

Ranma smirked, "Had enough, Kensuke?"  
"W-what the?"  
Ranma's head disappeared back out the latch. He walked over to Unit-00 as it lay lifelessly on its stomach and proceeded to remove the entry plug with his bare hands. After a short moment, Hikari's entry plug was pulled out of the EVA and Ranma opened up the latch. He peeked his head back in and smiled at Hikari as she looked at him, unable to discern what was transpiring, "Had enough, Hikari?" he asked her with a smirk.  
He then pulled his head out of the entry plug and walked over where Unit-01 was kneeling Kensuke emerged from his entry plug, a shocked look still on his face. He looked at Ranma, "What the hell's going on here? Who the hell are you?"  
Ranma turned around and smiled, "I'm an Angel,"  
"I can tell by that," Kensuke said, noticing the protruding wings. "Um, w-weren't you going to kill us?"  
Ranma shook his head, "No. Why would I do that?"  
Hikari emerged from her entry plug. She looked at Kensuke, then at Ranma, and then back at Kensuke, "What's going on here?"  
Ranma said, leaning against the front of Unit-01's foot, "Look, I can't stay long. I have a mirror to fetch. Anyway, all this, the entire battle that you went through, it was just an elaborate trick. Located throughout this city were seven N2 mines that could have gone off at any time. You two and I fought to cause a supposed smoke screen to cover up my true intentions, to retrive and destroy those mines. I assume you notice everything Unit-01 mounted you and started punching your EVA that during those punches, it missed your head and shot its fist deep into the ground. Well, those mines were located underground and I was simply disarming them by crushing detonator. That's all,"  
The children were silent. They were still busy staring at the wings protruding from Ranma's back.  
Ranma took a deep breath, "I've gotta get going now. I'll be back later. Misato and the other's will key you in on everything."  
Before the children even said anything, Ranma flew up into the air and landed on Unit-01's shoulder. They watched as the kneeling EVA stood up, turned toward the west, and made a mad dash toward the horizon.

In a flash of ligh, Ranma, who was standing on Unit-01's shoulder, appeared high above Tokyo.  
"Jeez, why does the nanban mirror constantly make me reappear several hundred feet about the air?" Ranma muttered to himself. He figured it was some kind of safety device so only a select few would be allowed to experience travelling between worlds.  
As Unit-01 fell toward the ground far below, four wings emerged from its back, extending outward and then toward the skies. It continued to grow unil it was reached well beyond the Earth's atmosphere. If anyone that happened to have been on the moon at the moment, they would be shocked to see those glowing wings because it would be clearly visible from their vantage point, even though they were so far away.  
Flaping its massive wings only once, Unit-01 slowed its intense descnet to a halt just inches above the ground. It moment later, it landed on the ground safely and unharmed. Unfortunately, the drag that had been created by those wings sent windows stattering and several building becomging heavily damaged.  
Ranma looked up at the sky. It was probably noontime, roughly twelve hours since he left Japan. Unit-01's ability to fly allowed Ranma to reach China in no time flat. It actually took more time actually searching for that damn nanban mirror instead of actually trekking to that Amazon village.  
It also didn't help one bit that several of the females of that village figured he was some enermy, what with him being perched upon Unit-01 and having wings of his own and attacking him. Of course, when he quickly and gently defeated them, his quest for the nanban mirror had been slowed down when all the young females he had defeated viewed him as their future husband. It seems they didn't even mind the thought of marrying a man that looked very much like an angel of legend.  
Nerv was under attack by nine white EVA when Ranma arrived. Unit-00 and Unit-02 were busy trying to fend them off. All nine EVA could be seen flying in a circle around the mountain that housed Nerv like vultures above a dead carcass as Unit-00 and Unit-02 proceeded to use their rifles and guns fire at them from the ground below.  
Ranma, seeing the circling EVAs, smirked and said, "Well, it looks like it already started."  
Unit-01's wings disappeared back into its back as it ran toward the mountain, a trail of dust being caused in its wake.  
"I've gotta get rid of those AT fields around the EVAs so the children would be able to do some damage," he said. As Ranma and Unit-01 neared the battle, Ranma lept up into the air and shot a massive ki-blast toward the EVAs. The blast struck one of the nine EVAs, knocking it out of the air. It crashed down on the ground with a fierce impact.  
While Ranma hovered in the air a good disatance away, he watched as Unit-01 ran toward the hapless EVA as it lay on its back and grabbing its head, pushing it into the ground where Unit-01 then proceeded to run toward Unit-00 and Unit-02, scraping the white EVA against the ground in the same fashion as it did with Saffron.  
"T-That's Unit-01!" Hikari said, pausing a moment to see the purple EVA running toward them, "Ranma's back!" She and Kensuke had been told about everything and who Ranma was, what he had been doing all this time, everything. She looked up and saw what looked like a human with wings. She knew it was Ranma. She didn't get a real good look at him before she found herself being blown backwards as one of the circling EVA units swooped down and shoulder rammed her EVA. She immediately turned her attention back onto her immediate threat.  
From a safe distance, Ranma proceeded to throw ki-blast after ki-blast at each and every unsuspecting EVA, destorying its AT field. Soon after that, Unit-00 and Unit-02 had little trouble finishing them off. Unit-01 also helped out destroying EVA and then quickly moving on to the next. If it weren't for Ranma, the battle would have been much harder. But then again, if it weren't for Unit-01, Ranma would have lost to the first attacking EVA. It seems that Unit-01 and Ranma made the perfect pair.

"So, it's all a matter of time before Seele is exposed," Ranma said. He and everyone else were all around the helicopter landing pad. Several hours had pasted since Nerv had been attacked by those nine EVAs. As he looked down the side of the mountain, he could see the remains of all those EVAs, a severed arm here, a hand there, a head over there. Tiny rivers of EVA blood could be seen flowing down the side of the mountain as several dismembered bodies could be seen further uphill.  
Misato leaned against the railing, gazing intently at Ranma "Yes," Her eyes constantly glanced at his wings. They were folded in a fashion that made it look like he was wearing a cape. Ranma pulled the nanban mirror out of his pocket, "Well, I guess I should get going then. There's really nothing much more in my staying,"  
"Um, what about your wings?" Ritsuko asked, "I mean, you do stick out like a sore thumb..."  
Ranma looked over his back at his wings. He turned toward her and smiled. He reached behind himself and ripped the wings right of his back and held them both under one of his arms. He said, "That's how. While on my way to China, I had a little time tomyself. I remember Saffron pulling off his wings so I figured I could do the same. And, well, it turns out I was right."  
"What are you going to do with those?" Naoko asked, reaching out and touching the wings. They felt smooth beneath her fingertips. She pictured how nice it would be to actually have wings, to not be restricted to moving only over land.  
Ranma placed the wings back on his back again and said, "I'm gonna keep `em. I'm gonna bring them home with me. I could learn to live with having wings. And if they get in the way, I'll just take `em off. I know there is a way to have the wings disappear into my back like Unit-01over there, but I don't really know how, at least not yet."  
"Unit-01 has wings?" Ritsuko said, shock in her voice. She looked over the railing and at Unit-01 which was sitting against the mountain side. Ranma nodded, "Yep. I didn't like the thought of flying from Japan to China. So, I tried to find out if it had wings. Lo and behold, it does. I was right about that also,"  
"Do you think Unit-00 and Unit-02 have the ability to generate wings?" Kensuke asked, interested. He liked the thought of piloting a flying EVA.  
"I doubt it," Ranma said, "I think it's that S2 organ that makes it possible,"  
"You seem to have a thing for pushing yourself and Unit-01 to the limit, ne?" Misato asked.  
"You seem to be always right, Ranma," Maya commented with a smirk.  
"Yep," he replied with a smile.  
The was a brief moment of silence before Misato broke that silence and said, "So, you're going home?" "Yes,"  
"Will we ever see you again? I mean, will you ever come by and pay us a visit?"  
Ranma shook his head, "That won't be possible. Once I leave this world, I'll never be able to come back. Not ever. This is probably the last time you'll ever see me,"  
All the females seemed to look sulled all of a sudden.  
"You're not staying, are you? There's no chance in that?" Ritsuko asked.  
Ranma took a deep breath, "No. I'd like to go back home. There's people waiting back home for me and I'm pretty sure they're worried about me and where I've been," He turned toward Gendo, "Well, I guess all's right with the world, ne?"  
"Yes," Gendo said, smiling, "It sure is. Without your help none of this would have been possible. Who knows, if it weren't for you, the Angel's might have succeeded and we no longer be here anymore."  
"Don't be so pessimistic," Ranma said with a smile, "You seemed to have done fine without my being here. And I'm pretty sure even without my being here, you would have done fine,"  
"Perhaps not," Gendo said, "I don't think we would have been able to expose Seele without your help. I would never had come up with that plan to getting rid of those N2 mines. Your presence here made it a whole lot easier for us, what with you knowing how to defeat the Angels and upcoming events. It seemed that everything happened as you predicted,"  
Ranma smiled, "So, what do you guys plan on doing with the three EVA units?" He extended his hand forward and shook Gendo's.  
"We dont' know," Ritsuko said, "We'll probably get rid of them. Now that there are no more Angels that will attack, we have nothing to worry about anymore. They'll probably be put in a museum to signify mankind's triumph over the Angels,"  
Ranma got an idea and said, "Hey, if you're not gonna really be needing them, why not let me have Unit-01? I kinda got attached to it. I like the thought of having something like that by my side. Besides, it would come in quite in handy if, say, Adam decides to pay my world a visit, ne?" "That sounds rather far fetched," Maya commented.  
"I doubt anyone would appreciate that," Ritsuko said, "Unit-01 is probably worth more than the entire city of Tokyo. You can't simply explain its disappearance without someone pointing blame toward someone,"  
"Oh well, it was worth a try," he replied. He hopped up onto railing, balancing on it skillfully. While standing on the railing, he turned around to face everyone "I guess my work here is done."  
"Wait," Misato said, stepping forward. "C-can you do me a favor before y-you leave?" She wanted to at least kiss him goodbye. Sure, he may be incredibly arrogant, but she had grown quite fond of him.  
Ranma opened his wings and hovered backwards into the air, smiling warmly. "I already know what you want me to do. Don't worry, I already know. And yes, I like you too, quite a bit as a matter of fact,"  
Misato blushed. She found tears forming around her eyes. Ranma was really leaving, and he was never coming back.  
"Tell Asuka, Shinji, Rei, and Yui that I was very happy to meet them," Ranma said, continuing to hover backwards. If he looked down, he would be able to see the ground several hundred feet below. "Tell them everything about me,"  
"We'll do that," Gendo said, nodding.  
Ranma bowed while in mid-air. "Take care everybody, it was fun,"  
"You too, Ranma," Misato said, waving goodbye. Everyone else soon said their goodbyes.  
Ranma reached into this pocket and pulled out the nanban mirror. He let a tear fall from his eye as he looked into the mirror. When the tear touched the mirror, Ranma was immediately enveloped in a bright light. A moment later, Ranma disappeared.

In a blinding flash of light, Ranma appeared high over the evening sky that loomed over MegaTokyo. No longer even needing toward about falling, he simply and slowly hovered down toward the ground far below, his wings expanding outward to slow down his descent. It didn't bother him one bit as several people caught sight of him as he slowly floated down pass the window of their offices.  
Landing in the middle of the street, several drivers slammed on their brakes as they saw what looked like a real life angel landing in front of their cars. Luckily, it was a side street and there were very few cars so traversing that street, so no accidents had been caused by his sudden appearance.  
He immediately recognized exactly where he was in relation to his home and, ignoring the staring people that was out that Friday night, Ranma walked down the street, heading for his house. His wings remained open for a short while, the wingspan seemingly stretched the entire width of the street before he closed them and had it folded tightly against his back. The wings were still noticeable for they were nearly as large as Ranma himself.  
"W-what t-the hell is that?" a pedestrian asked.  
Ranma walked down the street and around to a major intersection where he proceeded to wait to cross. The people around him all stopped what they were doing and stared at him. He simply ignored him. After several minutes, and the light still not changing, Ranma got impatient and expanded his wings and flew up into the sky, heading straight for home.

Ranma hovered high in the sky as he looked down at his home. God, how he missed it. He was looking forward to seeing everybody again. He couldn't wait to see Shinji, Rei, Asuka, Akane, Misato, and Ritsuko again. He was also looking very forward to meeting his real self. Knowing that it was a bit later in the day and that everyone should be home, he slowly hovered down and landed in the backyard. Actually, it was more like on the largest rock that made up the koi pond. He caught sight of Misato and Ritsuko as they sat on the back porch. When they saw Ranma, they looked absolutely shocked, like they saw a ghost.  
Ranma closed his wings and walked up to the two staring ladies a smile on his face, "Hey, Misato. Hey, Ritsuko. How's everything going? Is Akane and the others home?"  
They both looked at him, staring at him for a short while.  
After a few moments, Misato, still staring at Ranma, shouted out, "A-  
Akane, Asuka, S-Shinji, Rei...y-you might want to come out to the backyard and see this!"  
Ranma heard Akane's voice emerge from the kitchen, "What is it?"  
"Just come and see for yourself!" Ranma shouted back.  
Akane emerged from the kitchen just as Shinji and Asuka and Rei rounded the corner and they all caught sight of Ranma, wings and all. Akane, who was holding a pot in her hands, dropped it, bringing a hand up to her mouth, shock in her eyes.  
"R-Ranma?"  
Ranma noded, "Who else?"  
Asuka ran forward, tears streaming from her eyes, "Ranma!" She lunged forward and grabbed Ranma, her head burying deep into his chest, holiding him like he was some kind of dream come true, like he would disappear if she didn't grab a hold of him and hold on to him forever.  
Ranma was shocked for a moment but quickly returned the embrace, "W-  
what's going on here?"  
He looked up and noticed everyone watching him, tears streaming from their eyes. A moment later, they all ran forward and embraced him in group hug, everyone breaking down and sobbing as they all held on to him for dear life. Rei seemed to hesitate a bit at first, sensing something about him, but her yearning to hold a person she had missed dearly made her run into his arms.  
Although shocked at first at what was going on, Ranma's shocked visage turned soft as he soon and warmly returned the embrace, enjoying the human contact, enjoying being back home, with his friends and what he would now consider his family.  
Ranma didn't really know why everyone was acting this way, but didn't mind the attention.  
"I've missed you so much!" Asuka said, sobbing, realeasing all her emotions, all the emotions she had hidden over those months since Ranma had died. "I-I missed you too, Asuka," Ranma said softly, "I've missed all of you guys,"  
Ranma smiled, shedding tears, glad to be back. He wondered how they would react when he told them about who he was, that he was an Angel, that he was a clone, that he had been born from an EVA. But he didn't think about it much. They would accept him, wings and all.  
He was with his family again.  
He was finally home.


End file.
